Prediction Performance of Blackout and Plasma Attenuation in Atmospheric Reentry Demonstrator Mission

• Takahashi, Yusuke

• Yamada, Kazuhiko

• Abe, Takashi

Abstract

A numerical simulation model that combines the plasma ows and electromagnetic waves around a reentry vehicle during atmospheric reentry was developed to evaluate the radio frequency blackout and plasma attenuation. The physical properties of the plasma ow in the shock layer and wake region were obtained using a computational uid dynamics technique. The electromagnetic waves were expressed using a frequency- dependent nite-difference time-domain method with the plasma properties. Combined simulations were performed for the atmospheric reentry demonstrator of the European Space Agency at various altitudes based on reentry orbit data. The electromagnetic wave behaviors around the vehicle during atmospheric reentry were investigated in de- tail. Moreover, a parametric analysis with different ionization reaction models was performed. It was con rmed that the vehicle is surrounded by the plasma and the propagation of the electromagnetic waves is prevented at high altitude. Then, the plasma is dissipated, and the propagation recovers at low altitude. Validation of the simulation model was performed based on the plasma attenuation history of the exper- imental ight data. A comparison of the measured and predicted results showed good agreement. It was concluded that the combined simulation model could be an effective tool for investigating the radio frequency blackout and the plasma attenuation of radio wave communication.

Journal

• Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets

  Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets 51 (6), 1954-1964, 2014-11

  American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Details

• CRID: 1050282813993723392
• NII Article ID: 120005517710
• ISSN: 15336794
• ISSN: 00224650
• HANDLE: 2115/57530
• Text Lang: en
• Article Type: journal article
• Data Source:
  • IRDB
  • CiNii Articles