M. Auweterkurtz et al., PLASMADIAGNOSTICS WITHIN THE PLASMA WIND-TUNNEL PWK, Zeitschrift fur Flugwissenschaften und Weltraumforschung, 19(3), 1995, pp. 166-179
The IRS plasma wind tunnels were designed to test thermal protection m
aterials for space vehicles as well as to qualify numerical codes. The
knowledge of the parameters of the plasma jet is a prerequisite for d
eveloping erosion models for heat shield materials, relating erosion m
easurements to the real re-entry situation and also for corroboration
of plasma code modelling calculations. Therefore, a number of methods
has been developed and tested for the diagnostics of the high enthalpy
plasma flow. These are different mechanical and electrostatic probes,
emission spectrometry, Fabry-Perot interferometry and mass spectromet
ry. In this paper the results obtained with the different diagnostic m
ethods for plasma flow conditions which are typical for a re-entry sit
uation of a space vehicle are presented and discussed and first erosio
n measurements by mass spectrometry are shown. Applying all experiment
al and numerical methods, an air plasma flow can now be characterized
from the plasma source downstream to material test positions.