Material Ablation During Entries into the Venusian Atmosphere*

Understanding the ablation of different objects within the Venusian atmosphere is imperative both for the study of meteorite entries and the development of next-generation heat shields for spacecrafts entering the planet. Here we present the results form a numerical model solving two equations which describe the time evolution of velocity and mass as a function of entry conditions. We consider spherical ordinary chondrite impactors as a control to investigate how objects primarily composed of silica ablate when exposed to the extreme temperatures associated with the atmospheric entry process. The initial mass and velocities are varied, while assuming a 45-degree angle of entry for each simulation. The resulting mass loss rates are compared against simulation results using iron and carbon impactors and to data from carbon ablation experiments performed at the DIII-D tokamak. We conclude that silica materials should be explored in greater depths as candidate materials for future spacecraft heat shields.

 

Work supported by the United States Department of Energy under DE-SC0022554, DE-SC0021338, DE-SC0023375, and DE-FC02-04ER54698.

 

Keywords: Ablation; Heat Shield.