Area native wins Navy engineering award

INDIAN HEAD, Md. — Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Division's Dr. Vasant Joshi, senior materials scientist; and Dr. Greg Young, propulsion engineer and program lead and a 194 graduate of Wallkill Valley Regional High School; received the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Dr. Delores M. Etter Award for Top Scientists and Engineers for 2014, during a ceremony held at the Pentagon, June 12.

Established in 2006, the award is named for Dr. Delores Etter, former assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, and recognizes Navy civilian and military personnel for exceptional science and engineering achievements. Since 2010, NSWC IHEODTD scientists and engineers have earned nine of the awards.

Young and Joshi were recognized for development of a hybrid rocket fuel that performs as well as solid rockets while creating a safer system that is throttleable and has the ability to be stopped and restarted in flight. The new boron-based system overcomes traditional difficulty of inefficient combustion with boron by elimination of hydrogen in the composition. The increased performance was demonstrated in fiscal year 2014 using a sub-scale rocket motor test stand constructed at the command.

"We're extremely proud of Dr. Joshi and Dr. Young," said NSWC IHEODTD Technical Director Ashley Johnson. "Their work on Hybrid Rocket Propulsion represents a significant advancement in technology by introducing the possibility of throttling a rocket motor that allows for greater mission flexibility. This could provide missiles the ability to loiter then accelerate to engage once the target is acquired. Their accomplishment required exceptional technical rigor and a strong understanding of combustion, rocket propulsion and the underlying sciences. It also represents this command's commitment to develop and transition new products and services that increase warfighting capabilities."