Analysis of Mars 2020 Entry Vehicle Aerothermal Flight Data

Abstract

The Mars 2020 entry vehicle’s thermal protection system included measurements of in-depth temperature on the heatshield and backshell, and surface heating on the backshell. This paper describes the flight data and resulting analysis: subsurface temperatures at 11 heatshield and 6 backshell locations, measured total heat flux at two backshell locations, and a radiometer on the backshell to measure shock layer radiation. All temperatures were within allowable material limits. Total surface heat flux was derived from the in-depth temperature measurements at the thermocouple locations. Turbulent boundary-layer conditions occurred at nine heatshield locations and the radiometer provided evidence that heating from shock layer radiation significantly exceeded convective heating on the backshell. Computational results on the reconstructed entry trajectory are compared to the flight data. After boundary-layer transition, total heat flux from algebraic turbulence model calculations qualitatively matches the reconstructed heating, but with lower peak magnitudes. On the backshell, laminar heat flux predictions generally exceed the as-flown values by less than [Formula: see text], with shock layer radiation predicted to contribute the majority of heating. At the radiometer location, the maximum predicted radiative heat flux exceeds the measurement, with the measured value likely suppressed by ablation products on the sapphire window.