Design, fabrication and test of high temperature superconducting magnet for heat flux and radio blackout mitigation experiments in plasma wind tunnels

Abstract

High heat flux and radio blackout are well-known challenges space vehicles have been facing during re-entry into a planet’s atmosphere since the early days of space-flight. Thermal protection systems have been developed to protect spacecraft and astronauts, however, they are often heavy and some have to be replaced after each mission. High temperatures in the compressed gas in the shock wave lead to partial ionization. The dense plasma can cause radio blackout, i.e. attenuation or reflection of radio waves thus blocking data-telemetry and communication with ground stations or satellites. One approach to solve both problems is to influence the plasma with magnetohydrodynamic effects using a strong magnet. In the framework of the European project MEESST (Magnetohydrodynamic Enhanced Entry System for Space Transportation) heat flux mitigation and radio blackout mitigation is investigated by means of modelling and ground experiments in plasma wind tunnels at the Institute of Space Systems (Stuttgart, Germany) and at the Von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics (Brussels, Belgium) using an HTS magnet. After a short introduction to the scientific background of the MEESST project, the boundary conditions for the design of the magnet and calculations of field distributions are presented. The pancake coils of the magnet were wound with a robotic winding system. Results from a preliminary test of the conduction-cooled magnet are presented.