European Space Agency intermediate experimental vehicle: Development of an independent aerothermodynamic database tool

Benedetto, Sara Di; Rufolo, Giuseppe C.; Marini, Marco

doi:10.1177/0954410012469493

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 13 publications

(23 reference statements)

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“…This real-life study case is the European Space Agency (ESA) IXV re-entry vehicle (shown in Fig. 1); more information about the IXV vehicle and the related ESA mission can be found in [14], [15] and references therein.…”

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confidence: 99%

Radiation and Scattering of EM Waves in Large Plasmas Around Objects in Hypersonic Flight

Scarabosio,

Quijano,

Tobon

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Hypersonic flight regime is conventionally defined for Mach> 5; in these conditions, the flying object becomes enveloped in a plasma. This plasma is densest in thin surface layers, but in typical situations of interest it impacts electromagnetic wave propagation in an electrically large volume. We address this problem with a hybrid approach. We employ Equivalence Theorem to separate the inhomogeneous plasma region from the surrounding free space via an equivalent (Huygens) surface, and the Eikonal approximation to Maxwell equations in the large inhomogeneous region for obtaining equivalent currents on the separating surface. Then, we obtain the scattered field via (exact) free space radiation of these surface equivalent currents. The method is extensively tested against reference results and then applied to a real-life re-entry vehicle with full 3D plasma computed via Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) simulations. We address both scattering (RCS) from the entire vehicle and radiation from the on-board antennas. From our results, significant radio link path losses can be associated with plasma spatial variations (gradients) and collisional losses, to an extent that matches well the usually perceived blackout in crossing layers in cutoff. Furthermore, we find good agreement with existing literature concerning significant alterations of the radar response (RCS) due to the plasma envelope.

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confidence: 99%