Entry Systems Modeling (ESM)

The Entry Systems Modeling project (ESM) develops mission-focused models and simulation tools that improve performance, reduce risk, and enable new capabilities for planetary entry, descent, and landing (EDL) across the Solar System. Project developments span four critical EDL technical areas: Thermal Protection System (TPS) Materials – multiscale models of material properties and reliability, ablative response of the forebody heatshield, and material damage and failure modes in entry conditions; Aerothermodynamics – including radiative heating and the associated chemical kinetics resulting from the entry shock layer as well as turbulent heating at the surface of a spacecraft due to forebody roughness as well as from wake backshell interactions; Entry and Descent Vehicle Dynamics – advanced computational and experimental techniques focused on spacecraft dynamic stability as well as parachute inflation, dynamics, and failure; and Mission Impact Applications – integrating modeling from the four technical areas to conduct systems level analyses on missions – past, present, and future – to perform deep dives on mission analysis and demonstrate how developed capabilities can improve design. Unique ground test facilities are leveraged to support model validation and uncertainty quantification, including TPS testing in arc jets, radiation analysis for given gas compositions in shock tubes, and aero-testing in a variety of wind tunnels across the Agency. The project often is called upon by agency spaceflight missions to implement and apply specific capabilities to glean new insights into mission performance and provide benchmarks for mission design. Model and simulation tool products resulting from ESM activities have been infused, and continue to be infused, into the Agency's strategic scientific missions and flight projects, including Mars2020, Orion/Artemis, Dragonfly, and future Mars, Venus, and Earth initiatives.

For many of the Agency's most ambitious future missions, “test-as-you-fly" is not possible for entry, descent, and landing (EDL) due to limitations in experimental ground test capabilities. The Entry Systems Modeling project bridges the ground-to-flight knowledge gap by providing cross-cutting models and simulation tools that are leveraged to improve performance, reduce risk, and enable new system capabilities across the breadth of NASA's EDL missions. Project activities align with the EDL Strategic Framework and specifically serve to reduce uncertainties in aerodynamics and aerothermodynamics, integrate materials response, quantify risk, and reduce system mass to enable capabilities that include high mass Mars payload delivery for Human-to-Mars efforts, aerocapture for Ice Giant missions, and probe entry for future outer planets missions. The Project is augmented through numerous creative partnerships with NASA flight projects, other government agencies, industry, and academia, which together form a balanced ecosystem for the EDL discipline – fostering innovative research to maximize impact for mission applications of today and tomorrow.

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