Atmospheric Entry - Entry Vehicle Design Considerations

Entry Vehicle Design Considerations

There are four critical parameters considered when designing a vehicle for atmospheric entry:

1. Peak heat flux
2. Heat load
3. Peak deceleration
4. Peak dynamic pressure

Peak heat flux and dynamic pressure selects the TPS material. Heat load selects the thickness of the TPS material stack. Peak deceleration is of major importance for manned missions. The upper limit for manned return to Earth from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) or lunar return is 10 Gs. For Martian atmospheric entry after long exposure to zero gravity, the upper limit is 4 Gs. Peak dynamic pressure can also influence the selection of the outermost TPS material if spallation is an issue.

Starting from the principle of conservative design, the engineer typically considers two worst case trajectories, the undershoot and overshoot trajectories. The undershoot trajectory is typically defined as the shallowest allowable entry velocity angle prior to atmospheric skip-off. The overshoot trajectory has the highest heat load and sets the TPS thickness. The undershoot trajectory is defined by the steepest allowable trajectory. For manned missions the steepest entry angle is limited by the peak deceleration. The undershoot trajectory also has the highest peak heat flux and dynamic pressure. Consequently the undershoot trajectory is the basis for selecting the TPS material. There is no "one size fits all" TPS material. A TPS material that is ideal for high heat flux may be too conductive (too dense) for a long duration heat load. A low density TPS material might lack the tensile strength to resist spallation if the dynamic pressure is too high. A TPS material can perform well for a specific peak heat flux, but fail catastrophically for the same peak heat flux if the wall pressure is significantly increased (this happened with NASA's R-4 test spacecraft). Older TPS materials tend to be more labor intensive and expensive to manufacture compared to modern materials. However, modern TPS materials often lack the flight history of the older materials (an important consideration for a risk-averse designer).

Based upon Allen and Eggers discovery, maximum aeroshell bluntness (maximum drag) yields minimum TPS mass. Maximum bluntness (minimum ballistic coefficient) also yields a minimal terminal velocity at maximum altitude (very important for Mars EDL, but detrimental for military RVs). However, there is an upper limit to bluntness imposed by aerodynamic stability considerations based upon shock wave detachment. A shock wave will remain attached to the tip of a sharp cone if the cone's half-angle is below a critical value. This critical half-angle can be estimated using perfect gas theory (this specific aerodynamic instability occurs below hypersonic speeds). For a nitrogen atmosphere (Earth or Titan), the maximum allowed half-angle is approximately 60°. For a carbon dioxide atmosphere (Mars or Venus), the maximum allowed half-angle is approximately 70°. After shock wave detachment, an entry vehicle must carry significantly more shocklayer gas around the leading edge stagnation point (the subsonic cap). Consequently, the aerodynamic center moves upstream thus causing aerodynamic instability. It is incorrect to reapply an aeroshell design intended for Titan entry (Huygens probe in a nitrogen atmosphere) for Mars entry (Beagle-2 in a carbon dioxide atmosphere). Prior to being abandoned, the Soviet Mars lander program achieved no successful landings (no useful data returned) after multiple attempts. The Soviet Mars landers were based upon a 60° half-angle aeroshell design. In the early 1960s, it was incorrectly believed the Martian atmosphere was mostly nitrogen, (actual Martian atmospheric mole fractions are carbon dioxide 0.9550, nitrogen 0.0270 and argon 0.0160). The Soviet aeroshells were probably(?) based upon an incorrect Martian atmospheric model and then not revised when new data became available.

A 45 degree half-angle sphere-cone is typically used for atmospheric probes (surface landing not intended) even though TPS mass is not minimized. The rationale for a 45° half-angle is to have either aerodynamic stability from entry-to-impact (the heat shield is not jettisoned) or a short-and-sharp heat pulse followed by prompt heat shield jettison. A 45° sphere-cone design was used with the DS/2 Mars impactor and Pioneer Venus Probes.