SIMULATION OF VENUS ATMOSPHERIC ENTRY BY EARTH RE-ENTRY

The value of a full-scale Earth re-entry test to simulate a Venus entry is examined with emphasis on the effects of atmospheric gas composition on shock-layer radiative heat transfer and response of a high-density phenolic-nylon heat shield. The particular case studied is for a 60° half-angle blunted cone, with a ballistic coefficient of 0.6 slugs/ft2, entering a Venus atmosphere composed of 90% CO2, 10% N2 at about 36.4 kft/sec. With a vertical entry to Earth assumed, it is found that a Venus entry at a path angle of about 45° could be simulated to a reasonable accuracy for time histories of deceleration, angle-of-attack envelope, convective and stagnation-point radiative heating, and heat-shield mass loss rate, despite the differences in gas composition. Although simulation of radiative heating becomes increasingly unacceptable away from the stagnation point, with the Earth conditions being unconservative, the simulation of ablator mass loss rate is predicted to remain quite good. © 1969 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc., All rights reserved.