Aerothermal environment for Jovian entry probes

Abstract

Results are presented that describe the aerothermal environment encountered by the forebody of probes during Jovian entry. Two probe configurations are considered: a 55 deg half-angle spherically blunted cone and a 50 deg half-angle hyperboloid. The main emphasis is focused on defining the heating environment during entry and on determining the effectiveness of coupled ablation injection in reducing the surface heating rate. This is accomplished by calculating both the convective and radiative heating at several points along the entry trajectory both with and without coupled ablation injection. Results are presented for both laminar and turbulent calculations.