By Jill Pickett, AEDC/PA / Published August 13, 2020
Lt. Col. Adam Quick, left, director of the Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC) Space and Missile Branch, briefs Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. Stephen Wilson as they walk through part of the arc heater facility Aug. 11, 2020, at Arnold Air Force Base, Tenn. Arc heaters allow for the testing of thermal protection systems in simulated environments representative of hypersonic flight. (U.S. Air Force photo by Jill Pickett)
Lt. Col. Adam Quick, front left, director of the Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC) Space and Missile Branch, briefs Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. Stephen Wilson as they walk through part of the arc heater facility Aug. 11, 2020, at Arnold Air Force Base, Tenn. Arc heaters allow for the testing of thermal protection systems in simulated environments representative of hypersonic flight. (U.S. Air Force photo by Jill Pickett)
Lindsay Anderson, an Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC) test engineer, briefs Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. Stephen Wilson, right, and Brig. Gen. William Henry Kale, Director of Civil Engineers at Headquarters Air Force, during their visit to Arnold Air Force Base, Tenn., Aug. 11, 2020. In the foreground is a CubeSat, a small research satellite. (U.S. Air Force photo by Jill Pickett)
Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. Stephen Wilson looks at materials tested in the Space Threat Assessment Testbed at Arnold Air Force Base, Tenn., as Kellye Burns, an Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC) space test engineer briefs him, Aug. 11, 2020. Materials testing can be conducted in STAT to understand the performance of materials in and susceptibility to a realistic space environment. (U.S. Air Force photo by Jill Pickett)
Kellye Burns, right, an Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC) space test engineer, briefs Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. Stephen Wilson on the Space Threat Assessment Testbed (STAT) during his visit to Arnold Air Force Base, Tenn., Aug. 11, 2020. Wilson visited STAT, arc heaters, the 16-foot Transonic Wind Tunnel and the C-2 engine test cell while at Arnold AFB. (U.S. Air Force photo by Jill Pickett)