---
title: Blast From the Past—and Into the Future
date: 2023-09-14T09:28:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://terp.umd.edu/blast-from-the-past-and-into-the-future"
section: Articles
---
# Blast From the Past—and Into the Future

*September 14, 2023* — by [Maggie Haslam](/authors/maggie-haslam)


- *Photo by Mac Nelson*

> 75 Years After Its Groundbreaking, Revived UMD Wind Tunnel Revs Up

*wind tunnel*

When the U.S. bobsled team was preparing to blow away the competition at the 2002 Winter Olympics, it bypassed the icy chutes of Lake Placid, N.Y., for an unassuming brick building in College Park, Md.

The team took silver and bronze, thanks in part to the seconds-shaving, streamlined sled design honed at the University of Maryland’s [Glenn L. Martin Wind Tunnel](https://windtunnel.umd.edu/), one of just a handful of such facilities on a university campus and among the longest-operating in the United States. Since 1949, the wind tunnel has put hundreds of innovations to the test: from advancements in automobile design and satellite antennas to the study of flying squirrels and ejector seats.

“It’s a pretty astounding machine for something built 75 years ago,” says aerospace engineering Professor Emeritus Jewel Barlow, who has directed the activities at the wind tunnel since 1977. “The engineering is near perfection, even by 2023 standards.”


*woman's hair blows in wind tunnel — Photo by Stephanie S. Cordle*


*twin-rotor copter — Photo via San Diego Air and Space Museum Library and Archives*


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**1970s  
Ford’s revolutionary cars (and one family truckster):** The 1973 gas crisis kicked the automotive race for a fuel-efficient car into high gear and sent Ford Motors to the wind tunnel for the development of cutting-edge, aerodynamic designs: among them, the ’86 Taurus (which included a family vacation-friendly wagon version).


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*bird — Photo by Margaret Strickland via Unsplash*


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**1985  
Sailboats:** The wind tunnel was instrumental in the development of a keel design to help the U.S. reclaim the America’s Cup from Australia in 1987, research that continued until the early 2000s.


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**1988  
Blow-dried:** In a tradition born from one TV reporter’s publicity stunt, meteorologists prepping for hurricane season are now invited to practice standing through 70 mph blasts each July.


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*man strapped into wind tunnel — Photo by Stephanie S. Cordle*


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**2000s  
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s...:** a government-funded development of a human flight suit, complete with a 50-pound, twin-engine jet pack.


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**2012  
Speed skating gear:** Under Armour brings in its revolutionary speedskating uniforms for the U.S. Olympic team, where an aerodynamic seam could literally edge out the competition.


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*drone — Photo by Ricardo Gomez Angel via Unsplash*




**Issue:** [Fall 2023](https://terp.umd.edu/editions/fall-2023)


**Types:** [Campus Life](https://terp.umd.edu/category/campus-life)