Prediction Performance of Blackout and Plasma Attenuation in Atmospheric Reentry Demonstrator Mission

Abstract

A numerical simulation model that combines the plasma flows and electromagnetic waves around a reentry vehicle during atmospheric reentry was developed to evaluate the radio frequency blackout and plasma attenuation. The physical properties of the plasma flow in the shock layer and wake region were obtained using a computational fluid dynamics technique. The electromagnetic waves were expressed using a frequency-dependent finite difference time domain method with the plasma properties. Combined simulations were performed for the atmospheric reentry demonstrator of the ESA at various altitudes based on reentry orbit data. The electromagnetic wave behaviors around the vehicle during atmospheric reentry were investigated in detail. Moreover, a parametric analysis with different ionization reaction models was performed. It was confirmed that the vehicle is surrounded by the plasma and the propagation of the electromagnetic waves is prevented at high altitude. Then, the plasma is dissipated and the propagation recovers at low altitude. Validation of the simulation model was performed based on the plasma attenuation history of the experimental flight data. A comparison of the measured and predicted results showed good agreement. It was concluded that the combined simulation model could be an effective tool for investigating the radio frequency blackout and the plasma attenuation of radio wave communication.