Experimental Investigation and Chemical Modeling of Thruster Plumes for Planetary Landers

The objective of the proposed project is to develop a novel chemical model for green propellant thruster exhaust and plumes for Mars crew and cargo landers. The exhaust and plume environments will be generated inside a world class shock tube facility at the University of Central Florida. Inside the shock tube, key parameters for developing chemical models can be measured. A lab scale green propellant thruster will be developed to further validate the model developed. The chemical model developed will be integrated with rocket plume codes developed by the NASA Marshall Space center to simulate the interaction of Martian regolith with the lander. When the plume from a thruster interacts with the surface of a planet, a number of issues can occur: 1) it can lead to unplanned mechanical loads and create stability issues, 2) the plume can also erode or contaminate the regolith near the landing site, 3) the plume particles will impact the surrounding regolith with a high velocity, which can lead to regolith damaging the lander, and 4) the heat from the exhaust plume can also weaken or damage the lander and surrounding pad. Engineers at NASA need to experimentally validate their models for rocket exhaust and plume interactions with Martian regolith in order to inform mission plans, stability, and understand potential damages to the lander.

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