Towards a robust laser-based velocity and temperature diagnostic for deployment in hypersonic ground-test facilities and high-speed flight

I propose to design and build an infrared laser-based sensor package to measure temperature and velocity near the aft-body of a spacecraft during reentry. The sensor’s measurements will be quantitative, calibration-free, and non-intrusive and sampled at over 100 kHz. This sensor aligns with NASA’s goals of non-intrusively measuring thermal and dynamic pressure loading during reentry. The sensor concept is adapted from nitric oxide (NO)-targeting Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (TDLAS) diagnostics developed to characterize temperature and velocity in hypersonic ground-test facilities. Design improvements will target reductions in physical footprint, power requirements, and data requirements while improving sensor robustness. Early design iterations will be tested in high-enthalpy facilities in Prof. Ronald K. Hanson’s group at Stanford University, while later designs will be deployed to selected hypersonic ground-test facilities nationwide. The sensor will contribute to the characterization of selected hypersonic facilities’ freestream conditions during these validation tests. The final sensor package will be ready for integration onto a selected spacecraft, and mission identification and preliminary flight-vehicle integration will be completed near the project’s end. I will rely on the Hanson group’s world-class facilities and experience in developing laser-based diagnostics to develop this sensor. I will also leverage my extensive experience in both optics research and in spaceflight hardware design. Development progress will be aided greatly by mentorship from NASA engineers, particularly during the mission selection process and integration into the spacecraft. This sensor concept is easily extended in the future to use multiple lasers targeting a range quantum transitions and target species, which would extract further information and reduce measurement uncertainty. However, a single-laser measurement is proposed here to minimize design complexity, physical footprint, power and data requirements, and cost. A successful sensor would open the door for a new type of non-intrusive sensor for future spacecraft.

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