PSI’s Hypersonic Materials Testbed provides a low cost alternative to arc-jet testing to assess the performance of thermal protection system (TPS) materials under high enthalpy, high flow velocity and high heating rate conditions experienced at the leading edge of a hypersonic vehicle traveling up to Mach = 17. This unique capability incorporates PSI’s scalable (5 – 100 kW) microwave torch technology, MIDJetTM to produce a clean, high enthalpy, hypersonic flow enabling subscale (≤ 1” Φ) testing of TPS materials and measurement of oxidation /erosion rate, changes in surface and bulk material properties (including in-situ mechanical strength testing at temperature) and optical signatures.