Absolute Radiation Measurement During Planetary Entry in the NASA Ames Electric Arc Shock Tube Facility

During planetary entry, a shock-heated plasma that imparts significant heating to the structure is formed in front of the space vehicle. At high velocities, a significant portion of that energy transfer originates from radiation from the shock-heated plasma. Shock tubes are capable of simulating the high velocity and low density conditions typical of planetary entry and thus are able to recreate the radiative environment encountered by spacecraft. The Electric Arc Shock Tube (EAST) at NASA Ames Research Center is one of the few shock tubes in the world that is capable of reaching the high velocities that are necessary to study more extreme entry conditions. The EAST is presently being utilized to simulate radiation in a variety of planetary atmospheres. It is presently the only facility in which radiation originating in the vacuum ultraviolet is being quantified. This paper briefly describes recent tests in the EAST facility relevant to Earth, Mars, and Venus entry conditions, and outlines the issues in relating ground test data to flight relevant condition via predictive radiation simulations.