November 5, 2024 — Southwest Research Institute’s Dr. James Walker has received the Distinguished Scientist Award from the Hypervelocity Impact Society. This honor recognizes individuals who have made a significant and lasting contribution to the field of hypervelocity science. Hypervelocity impact is typically viewed as impacts at speeds above 2 kilometers per second (4,475 miles per hour); for some materials, however, lower speed impacts display hypervelocity impact effects.
The award cited Walker’s research and wide-ranging applications in penetration modeling. These include developing a technique to launch fragments at over 10 kilometers per second and conducting launch safety evaluations for the New Horizons spacecraft’s radioisotope thermoelectric generator. Walker also performed modeling work during the Space Shuttle Columbia accident investigation and authored the technical appendix on the foam impact on the wing leading edge in the Columbia Accident Investigation Report.
“This is a great honor,” Walker said. “Since the award’s inception in 1989, only 17 people have received this award, and three of them have been from SwRI. It shows the strength of our hypervelocity impact program, and it’s exciting to see it receive this kind of recognition.”
Walker joined SwRI as a postdoctoral fellow in 1988. His impact-focused research includes applications in body armor, ground vehicle armor, ballistic and blast protection for the Navy’s next-generation destroyer (DDG-1000 Zumwalt) and shielding against hypervelocity impact by orbital debris for the International Space Station. Along with SwRI retiree Dr. Charles Anderson, he developed the Walker-Anderson model, a widely used analytical penetration model that provides a fast-running, accurate estimation of the penetration performance of metallic, ceramic and fabric armors.
After the Space Shuttle Columbia accident in 2003, Walker supported NASA’s investigation of the incident and the return to flight program that followed. NASA used his models in its risk analyses to help determine that the Space Shuttle program was ready to return to flight in 2005.
He recently served as a member of the investigation team for NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), a planetary defense mission designed to assess whether an impact could redirect an asteroid on a collision course with Earth. The mission deliberately crashed a spacecraft into the asteroid Dimorphos, successfully altering its trajectory. This follows and extends Walker’s work in planetary defense, protecting Earth from asteroids and comets, and momentum enhancement. Walker’s book Modern Impact and Penetration Mechanics was published in 2021 by Cambridge University Press.
Walker previously served as the president of the Hypervelocity Impact Society and on its board of directors. He is the current president of the International Ballistics Society (IBS), and a Fellow of both the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). He is a Ballistics Science Fellow, the highest honor bestowed by the IBS.
For more information, visit Measurement of Ballistic & Explosive Events or contact Joanna Quintanilla, +1 210 522 2073, Communications Department, Southwest Research Institute, 6220 Culebra Road, San Antonio, TX 78238-5166.