Ohio
A Small Ohio Startup is Testing Something Big – A Small Hypersonic Engine
Air-breathing hypersonic powerplants are typically fighter-jet engine-sized. But Velontra has just test-run an 11-inch diameter, five foot-long turbojet that will be the core of its Bronco hypersonic propulsion system.
The Ohio-based company was launched in 2021 with a goal of one day producing a low earth orbit spaceplane to serve the satellite launch market. Like every other would-be hypersonic transport/launch developer, it will pursue government and defense technology contracts on the way there.
The small size of the Bronco propulsion system makes Velontra stand out. A ready-made hypersonic engine for smaller drones and other air vehicles is of obvious interest to a variety of national defense and commercial organizations, particularly if it can be delivered cost-effectively.
Velontra leaves little doubt on that point, claiming that the unit cost for Bronco will be “less than $200,000”. The company was started with cost and rapid development firmly in mind taking inspiration from SpaceX says Velontra CTO, Joel Darin.
“We don’t want to just ask investors to trust us with a ton of money and ten years later see if our idea works or not. We want to produce actual products at each stage that develop the technology we’ll eventually need. This small application lets us develop a product at a fraction of the cost [of full scale hypersonics] that people will buy.”
According to Darin, large hypersonic propulsion system testing in full-scale wind tunnel facilities can cost up to $50,000 per hour. “We’re paying $300,000 to get two to three months of testing,” he says. “The development is much cheaper but the lessons we learn are scale-able to bigger applications.”
Applications, particularly drone and test vehicle roles, are something Velontra expects to rapidly move its small hypersonic propulsion system into. The company has already taken the first step in doing so in signing a contract with hypersonic transport developer, Venus Aerospace to provide four Bronco propulsion systems to power a small-scale near-hypersonic UAV which Venus will use to test its own hypersonic propulsion technology.
I previously wrote about Venus’ efforts to realize its own hypersonic airliner and the likely defense technology development/sales route it will take to get there. I was unable to get confirmation of the supplier contract with Velontra from Venus by publication time.
However, it would seem reasonable that the Texas company may subcontract the air-breathing powerplant for a hypersonic test vehicle to perfect its own liquid-propellant rotating detonation rocket engine (RDRE). Darin asserts that it is remarkable for a seed-phase startup like Velontra to already have a hardware contract in hand. He also alluded to the model it establishes for his company.
“They’re [Venus] like an airframer buying our propulsion system,” Darin says. That could be a replicable business proposition for the small Ohio firm (currently it has a dozen staff) if anticipated flight testing of Bronco late this year in Venus Aerospace’ hypersonic drone is successful. Darin did not disclose the value of the Venus contract but did affirm that Velontra currently has a total of $2 million in contracts for Bronco.
A successful flight test and program with Venus would logically be watched by DoD’s science and technology community. Darin told me that Velontra has four Phase 1 research contracts with the Air Force’s AFWERX innovation hub although the organization confirmed only two Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) projects.
Nevertheless, compact hypersonic propulsion systems will be avidly sought by the defense community which has repeatedly expressed its desire for a quick expansion of hypersonic development test resources. The Pentagon’s National Security Innovation Capital (NSIC) organization has already demonstrated such appetite, laying out $1.5 million in development funding earlier this year for a 3D-printed hypersonic rocket engine called “Mjölnir” from Seattle-based New Frontier Aerospace (NFA).
The size of Mjölnir isn’t clear but it appears to be small-ish. The engine has yet to run (testing is slated for 2024) and it is apparently not an air-breathing system. That Bronco is an already-tested, air-breathing hypersonic propulsion unit speaks to its advantages.
Its cost advantage derives from using an unconventional off-the-shelf core. Rather than a full-fledged turbojet engine like the GE J85 that hypersonic developer Hermeus uses in its Chimera powerplant, Bronco makes use of a small turbojet used in military target drones and hobbyist radio-controlled jet models – Atlanta-based PBS
PBS
In stock configuration the small engine provides 337 pounds of thrust. The Bronco design adds a Velontra-developed afterburner and a ramjet to get the system to hypersonic speeds. Joel Darin says the company is shooting for 500 to 600 pounds of thrust from the TJ150 core, enough to propel air vehicles with 700 to 1000 pounds dry weight to supersonic speeds and then to accelerate to hypersonic velocities as Bronco’s ramjet comes online.
The combination (including the ramjet) was tested this Spring in Purdue’s Zucrow Laboratories in a High Pressure Combustion Lab. Velontra CEO, Robert Keane III, said the Bronco was tested, “at speeds over Mach 4.5 and altitude simulated over 100,000 feet, and it successfully screamed through vigorous testing with flying colors.”
The results, combined with a real piece of hardware, have generated significant enthusiasm Darin says. “We’ve gotten nothing but good reaction to the test and even the [general] idea before that. With the [test] milestone we hit recently, we can start making the rounds, reminding [potential investors] we’ve done what we said we were going to do.”
As noted, investment could come from a variety interested parties including companies looking to meet the U.S. Air Force’s desire for attritable Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCAs) for which the first performance metric is supposed to be cost. Low cost with hypersonic capability would indeed be big.
The next phase will see Velontra work towards optimizing Bronco for thrust, thrust vectoring, and durability as well as pushing to first-flight in the Venus Aerospace UAV Derin says. Success in such near-term development could attract both more attention and more money though Velontra’s CEO insists the company’s goal is to learn as quickly as possible by selling Broncos.
“This is not something that looks cool to raise money off of. This is a product.”
Ohio
East Palestine, Ohio: A town failed by the EPA – Washington Examiner
A Norfolk Southern train derailed in the quiet town of East Palestine, Ohio, two years ago. After two years, you would think this story would be open and closed, that East Palestine would go back to being the small, working-class town it was. But you would be wrong. Its residents were betrayed by our government’s Environmental Protection Agency.
Ever since Feb. 3, 2023, residents of East Palestine have struggled with serious health conditions that were nonexistent before the derailment. When the EPA allowed the Norfolk Southern Railway to burn five cars filled with vinyl chloride and other toxic chemicals, more than 100 dangerous compounds including dioxins and phosgene were formed, blanketing the town and nearby Pennsylvania communities with a black cloud. Dioxin, the most dangerous forever chemical known to man, was the active ingredient in Agent Orange, a human rights atrocity in the Vietnam War.
Despite this hardship, residents banded together to make sense of why our government told them it was safe to return to homes that were not safe. Most of all, they wondered why the government and agencies that swore to protect them were keeping them in the dark while they scrambled to put their lives back together. However, with a new administration featuring Ohio’s former senator, Vice President J.D. Vance, they may have a chance. This chance will only become reality if the new administration and Vance provide real, tangible support that makes a difference.
The greatest impact would come if the new administration declared a national disaster in East Palestine and affected communities. For months following the toxic derailment, residents of the community along with Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine asked the president to declare a national disaster. With this declaration, affected residents would have access to Medicare, long-term health monitoring, and financial assistance to relocate permanently to a safer home away from the toxic chemicals. Nevertheless, even after visiting East Palestine and talking with a hand-picked group of residents, former President Joe Biden only praised the EPA for its “Herculean” efforts.
In September 2024, four whistleblowers and scientists testified in legal challenges about the ongoing public health concerns from the chemical contamination following the derailment. The whistleblower disclosures from Scott Smith, George Thompson, Stephen Petty, and an anonymous toxins expert supplemented a legal petition filed in June demanding the EPA immediately honor its duty to warn residents about the dangers of consuming wild game and garden crops.
The four whistleblowers in the supplemental petition all reached the same conclusion: The community’s water, air, and soil were still contaminated from the chemicals released during the vent and burn, as well as the spill after the derailment. The EPA and state officials did no dioxin testing on crops in East Palestine but wrongly fell back on flawed dioxin soil sampling by Norfolk Southern. Despite the lack of testing and a petition showing whistleblower and independent tester Scott Smith found dioxin levels hundreds of times higher in East Palestine than in control samples canned before the derailment, the EPA continued to encourage residents to eat from their home gardens.
Former EPA contractor and whistleblower Robert Kroutil submitted a disturbing declaration to the EPA Office of Inspector General. The agency’s airborne surveillance program to assess chemical releases was grounded for five days, and when it did fly over East Palestine on Feb. 7, the day after the vent and burn, EPA program managers ordered airplane operators to turn off the chemical sensors over contaminated creeks. Kroutil further exposed falsification of the EPA’s data, stating that legally required quality assurance plans were created six weeks after the disaster and backdated. The request for a backdated quality assurance plan for the East Palestine mission was allegedly made by a program manager on Feb. 28, 2023, and the falsified documents, including multiple technical inaccuracies and inconsistencies, were provided to the Government Accountability Project as part of a Freedom of Information Act request.
The Government Accountability Project’s own investigator has filed several FOIA requests against the agencies involved with cleaning up after the derailment. These agencies were tasked with providing community assistance and resources. The residents, however, did not receive the assistance they needed — or virtually any support from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The initial FOIA request to FEMA to access records and communications about the derailment was submitted on Jan. 31, 2024, then again on April 12, 2024, to address the unmet needs of the community. Due to FEMA’s procedural failures, the agency refused to provide any communications requested, which is rare. Despite the request being expedited, FEMA has yet to provide any documentation. As a result, the Government Accountability Project recently sued FEMA for the records related to an executive order from Biden that tasked FEMA with assessing the unmet needs of the community and could have led to a disaster declaration, free medical care, and medical monitoring.
At the end of 2024, the Government Accountability Project filed an additional complaint with the EPA OIG after a legal recording of a conversation between an EPA official and East Palestine resident surfaced. In this conversation, the official acknowledged that Norfolk Southern’s environmental contractors are biased toward the responsible party that hired them. The EPA employee said the contractors’ reports cannot be trusted because they were written to minimize liability for the polluter. Meanwhile, residents continue to face severe medical complications, PTSD, and financial hardships.
Under the Biden administration, we saw government agencies lie and cover up mistakes for the sake of corporate appeasement. The EPA stood aside for Norfolk Southern’s burn because it allowed trains to get back on the tracks weeks sooner. Instead of protecting people, it protected profits and then lied to the public to cover a severe public health threat. Brave whistleblowers had to come forward to shed light on the wrongdoing federal agencies were committing. There was no assistance and no sense of hope from the president’s visit, with residents’ concerns swept under the rug for the sake of a publicity stunt and photo op.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
However, with a new administration in the White House, residents whose pleas were ignored in the previous administration are hopeful for a new opportunity under President Donald Trump. Vance has the opportunity to help real people in his home state who have overwhelmingly supported him since his time as an Ohio senator.
The Trump administration has a choice to make. It can listen to the community, whistleblowers, and independent scientists, or continue allowing the federal government and former senator to abandon this town. The fight to help East Palestine, Ohio, and the surrounding areas is still underway, and we will not stop until every hardworking American can rest easy without the fear of living in a poisoned community that is still making residents sick.
Tom Devine is the legal director at Government Accountability Project, a whistleblower protection and advocacy organization. He and his team have been investigating the derailment in East Palestine since September 2023.
Ohio
How to watch No. 8 Ohio State vs. Washington women’s basketball game free today: Live stream
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio State women’s basketball team will try to get its 20th win of the the season when it hosts Washington today – Sunday, Feb. 2 – on the Big Ten Network. Tip-off is slated for 5 p.m. Eastern.
Basketball fans without cable can still tune in to today’s game. Several streaming services will broadcast the game live. and you can watch on Fubo (free trial), DirecTV Stream (free trial) and Sling (promotional offers).
The eighth-ranked Buckeyes (19-1, 8-1 Big Ten) have won their last two games since losing their first game of the season to Penn State on Jan. 19. Their most recent win was a 72-66 win at Nebraska. The Huskies (13-8, 4-5 Big Ten) have lost four of their last five, with the most recent being a 73-70 home loss to Indiana.
Here’s more information on how you can watch:
What: No. 8 Ohio State vs. Washington women’s college basketball
When: Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025
Time: 5 p.m. Eastern
Where: Schottenstein Center | Columbus, OH
Channel: Big Ten Network
Best Streaming Options: Fubo (free trial), DirecTV Stream (free trial) and Sling (promotional offers).
Channel finder if you have cable: You can access the channel by using the channel finders online: Verizon Fios, Comcast Xfinity, Spectrum/Charter, Optimum/Altice, DIRECTV and Dish.
Ohio
Women’s college hockey: Gophers split weekend series with Ohio State
The Gophers women’s hockey team held a 3-2 lead over Ohio State late in the second period Saturday afternoon at Ridder Arena when Gophers coach Brad Frost elected to call a timeout.
One got the sense that the final 1:48 of the period was going to be huge, that keeping the lead heading into the final period would go a long way in allowing the Gophers to complete the weekend sweep of the defending national champions.
That instinct proved correct. The Buckeyes tied the game at 19:09 of the second period and scored four more times in the third period as Minnesota lost a penalty-filled, 7-3 game that split the weekend series.
“We were in good shape,” Frost said, “and then it got away pretty quickly.”
Frost said the primary reason he called the timeout was to get some fresh legs on the ice. But, indeed, the point was made that the Gophers needed to do everything they could to retain the lead heading into the final 20 minutes.
Gophers senior right winger Peyton Hemp’s second goal of the game gave the Gophers the 3-2 lead at 14:15 of the second period. It proved to be the last hurrah for the Gophers.
“I just feel like stuff wasn’t going our way,” Hemp said of the deciding stretch of the game. “I felt like the whole weekend, we were pretty steady and doing all the little things right. But sometimes it doesn’t bounce your way, and it happened to us a lot today.
“We all really wanted the sweep. It would have been huge for us.”
After going down rather quietly on Friday, the Buckeyes had a lot more fire in their game on Saturday.
“We dictated a lot more (Friday) night,” Frost said, “and they dictated a lot more tonight, as good teams tend to do.”
The Gophers (22-6-1, 16-5-1 WCHA) scored the only goal of the first period, with Emma Connor picking up her third of the season with the game less than two minutes old. The Buckeyes (21-6-3, 15-6-3) got on the board at 1:13 of the second period on the first of three goals in the game by Plymouth native Sloane Matthews.
Matthews’ third goal of the game was the pivotal one, tying the game at 3-3. The Buckeyes scored three times in the first five minutes of the third period, all on the power play.
“Penalties never helps us,” Hemp said. “It’s one of our biggest things we have to keep on the lockdown.”
There were 20 minor penalties called in the game, along with a 10-minute misconduct given to the Gophers’ Abbey Murphy in a particularly chippy third period. Frost was less than pleased with the way the game was called by the referees.
“I haven’t seen something like that in a long time,” he said. “It was a good hockey game until all hell broke loose. There were three or four times this weekend we were on the power play and they evened it up.
“I know it’s hard to referee two really good physical women’s hockey teams. I know they’re doing their best, but it’s just unfortunate the way things turned out in the third.”
The Gophers, who saw their winning streak end at seven games, were on the highest of highs after Friday’s win. Now, they need to find a way to bounce back from a disappointing loss.
“As a coach, in the back of your mind, if we can get a split on the weekend against another top team, it’s going to be great,” Frost said. “But when you win the first one, you want the second one so bad.
“It’s easy to dwell on this the whole week, but we don’t have time to do it and we’re not gonna.”
Up next, a pair of games on the road against No. 1 Wisconsin.
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