TRAJECTORY-BASED HEATING ANALYSIS FOR THE EUROPEAN-SPACE-AGENCY ROSETTA EARTH RETURN VEHICLE

A coupled, trajectory-based flowfield and material thermal-response an alysis is presented for the European Space Agency proposed Rosetta com et nucleus sample return vehicle. The probe returns to Earth along a h yperbolic trajectory with an entry velocity of 16.5 km/s and requires an ablative heal shield on the forebody. Combined radiative and convec tive ablating flowfield analyses were performed for the significant he ating portion of the shallow ballistic entry trajectory. Both quasiste ady ablation and fully transient analyses were performed for a heal sh ield composed of carbon-phenolic ablative material. Quasisteady analys is was performed using the two-dimensional axisymmetric codes RASLE an d BLIMPK. Transient computational results were obtained from the one-d imensional ablation/conduction code CMA. Results are presented for hea ting, temperature, and ablation rate distributions over the probe fore body for various trajectory points. Comparison of transient and quasis teady results indicates that, for the heating pulse encountered by thi s probe, the quasisteady approach is conservative from the standpoint of predicted surface recession.