Experimental Design of Electrophilic Gas Injection System for Plasma Blackout Mitigation during Hypersonic Reentry

Abstract

Radio communication blackout during hypersonic reentry has been a prolonged issue for all planetary missions. Though blackout mitigation techniques were investigated heavily in the 1960s and 1970s, the lack of fidelity in computational tools and integrated ground/flight testing with adequate diagnostic techniques lead to limited research for integrated mitigation systems. A newfound need for a lightweight, simple, and effective blackout mitigation technique has resurfaced due to the return of capsule reentry vehicles for human exploration and the ever-increasing reliance on autonomous systems to fly the vehicle without an onboard human-in-the-loop.

The predominant method for blackout mitigation agreed upon in literature is electrophilic gas injection. Though gas injection systems have been theorized and shown to work in a laboratory environment, there is little to no experimental demonstration of an integrated system that encompasses most, if not all, aerothermodynamic aspects of a reentering spacecraft. The focus of this thesis is on the experimental design of an integrated electrophilic gas injection system that can be used at various test facilities throughout the United States. This experiment will be used to demonstrate the feasibility of such a system and validate computational tools. A detailed analysis of design considerations for a first-of-its-kind system, the construction of components, and testing of components for design validation will be discussed.

This thesis contains information authorized for DISTRIBUTION A: Approved for Public release via AEDC Information Release Authority IRA-5647, PA AEDC2021- 084. This thesis contains patent information protected by the MIT Technology Licensing Office under MIT Case Number 23238. Information has been excluded/redacted from this thesis in order to adhere to the aforementioned distribution statement and patent protection requirements.