Critical Gas-Surface Interaction Problems for Atmospheric Entry

The scale of current planetary exploration missions is limited by existing Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) technology to payloads on the order of the recent Mars Science Laboratory Rover. Future efforts require that new EDL systems, such as inflatable decelerators, be developed now so that the technology will be mature in time for implementation on planned missions. However, all current and proposed EDL systems are inherently limited by a lack of knowledge of fundamental gas-surface interactions. Many surface reaction rates driven by hot plasma gases remain largely uncertain, owing to the difficulty of measuring such rates in ground test facilities at conditions that are relevant to the flight environment. The 30 kW Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) Torch Facility at UVM is designed to allow such measurements. Using laser-spectroscopic measurement techniques, the facility has produced quantified reaction rates for a number of critical reactions. We propose to study oxygen and nitrogen recombination on such surfaces in Mars atmosphere plasma tests. This activity will address the apparent “super-catalytic” behavior of surfaces by isolating and quantifying the different surface reaction mechanisms at such conditions. A second experimental effort will assess nitrogen recombination on common heat shield materials, including PICA char and Fiber-form. The experimental results will then be integrated into a finite rate, surface chemistry kinetics framework within the existing UVM NGA/ARTS code. This numerical effort also will be used to study gas-surface interaction chemistry with multiple, competing reactions paths and to explore surface energy accommodation.

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