Development of a Shock Tube Facility for Nonequilibrium Radiation Studies in Mars Entry Flight Conditions

Abstract

Recently, many planetary explorations have been proposed as future space missions around the world. In these missions, Mars exploration has gained attention and extensive works have been conducted (1)-(3). For example, NASA is now conducting Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) aiming at the manned flight to Mars in 2030's (4). In Japan, MELOS-1 will be planned in 2018 (5). In these missions, atmospheric entry flight is a key technology for the success of missions. When space vehicles enter the planetary atmosphere, a shock wave is formed around space vehicles, resulting in the severe aerodynamic heating. Therefore, a reliable thermal protection system (TPS) is required to protect space vehicles from the severe heat load. Nonequilibrium processes of thermal relaxation, dissociation and recombination reactions around space vehicles affect the heating environments. For the development of TPS, one must predict the thermochemical nonequilibrium processes accurately. The prediction of the thermochemical nonequilibrium processes has been carried out based on the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation. The accuracy of the prediction highly depends on the thermochemical model used in the simulation. The validation and improvement of the model are required by the ground testing simulating

Electron density measurements behind a hypersonic shock wave in argon

“…The detail description of the facility is shown in Ref. (Yamada, et al, 2013a). Figure 1 shows the spectroscopic measurement system at the test section.…”

“…Figure 1 shows the spectroscopic measurement system at the test section. This is the multipoint spectroscopic measurement system with short test duration developed in the previous study (Yamada, et al, 2013a). The measurement system consists of a quartz convex lens, a fiber alley, an imaging spectrometer (Andor, SR303i) and an ICCD camera (DH734i-18F-03).…”

Optical Diagnostics of Shock-induced Argon Plasmas Based on a Simple Collisional-Radiative Model

“…The shock tube facility consists of a high-pressure reservoir, compression tube, low pressure tube containing the test section, and vacuum tank. 16) The total length of the shock tube is about 7 m. The test section, with a 44 mm square cross-section, is made of aluminum alloy to reduce the influence of emission from contaminated gases in the test gas. Four quartz windows with a diameter of 30 mm are equipped with the test section wall.…”