Aerodynamic Heating Prediction of Flare-type Membrane Inflatable Reentry Vehicle from Low Earth Orbit

Abstract

Aerodynamic heating around a flare-type membrane inflatable vehicle during Earth atmospheric reentry was investigated using numerical simulation approach. This vehicle, which is mainly composed of the capsule, membrane aeroshell and inflatable torus, has been developed by the Membrane Aeroshell for Atmosphericentry Capsule (MAAC) group as a one of the innovative reentry systems. Analysis solver for reentry flows around the vehicle was RG-FaSTAR, which is a branch version of JAXA fast aerodynamic routine (FaSTAR). In addition, structure analysis solver also was used for membrane deformation in a loosely-coupled manner with the flow field. In the present research, the effects of angle of attack (