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Project

Modeling strategy for blackout analysis of re-entry phases in space exploration missions

Communication systems play a vital role in space missions, providing the capability to exchange data, commands, and telemetry between the space- craft and the ground bases on Earth. Among the different phases of a space mission, atmospheric entry is one of the most challenging ones: dur- ing this phase, a spacecraft enters a planetary atmosphere at high speed, in the hypersonic regime, and needs to decelerate until gently landing on the planet’s surface. During this phase, the high temperatures generated around the spacecraft result in the formation of plasma. Plasma interacts with electromagnetic waves disrupting all communication, navigation, and telemetry signals, leading to the well-known radio blackout problem. The communication loss during atmospheric entry introduces significant prob- lems to the safety of the vehicle (=significant security breaches/flaws for the vehicle), such as vehicle tracking, countermeasure capabilities, and could even undermine the overall mission success

The proposed methodology is based on the combination of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations and optical ray tracing. CFD simu- lations allow for reproducing flow conditions around the spacecraft flying at hypersonic speed in planetary atmospheres, characterized by a plasma layer that evolves in shape and time during the whole mission. Once the flow solutions are generated at different points during the entry trajectory, a ray tracing method is used to analyze the interaction between the radio frequency (RF) signal emitted from the spacecraft antenna and the en- try plasma. The ray tracing analysis allows for gathering information on the principal directions of propagation of the electromagnetic (EM) signal around the spacecraft and provides insight into the physical phenomena involved in atmospheric blackout. In blackout conditions, the model has shown a complex path of the EM waves around the spacecraft, which results in blockage of the communication between the spacecraft and the ground station.

Date:1 Jan 2019 →  19 Dec 2023
Keywords:plasma flows, CFD, atmospheric re-entry, communications blackout
Disciplines:Space plasma physics and solar physics
Project type:PhD project