Sandia evaluates warmth shields for Mars Pattern Return and Titan missions

by Clarence Oxford

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Oct 16, 2024

Sandia Nationwide Laboratories’ Nationwide Photo voltaic Thermal Take a look at Facility is using photo voltaic vitality to simulate the extreme warmth skilled throughout atmospheric reentry and hypersonic flight. The most recent checks intention to help NASA missions, together with the Mars Pattern Return marketing campaign, a joint effort with the European House Company to deliver Martian rock samples to Earth for evaluation. These samples might reveal proof of historical life and assist preparations for future human missions to Mars.

As a part of the Mars Pattern Return mission, a Pattern Retrieval Lander would carry the heaviest payload ever despatched to Mars, together with a rocket for launching the collected samples into Martian orbit. Warmth protect supplies for the lander not too long ago underwent testing at Sandia, mentioned Sandia engineer and check director Ken Armijo. “This is able to be the primary mission to return rocks from Mars to Earth; it is received an even bigger payload,” Armijo defined. “The heavier the payload and the larger the entry car, the warmer the car will get throughout atmospheric entry, and the higher the warmth protect must be.”

Sandia’s photo voltaic testing facility makes use of lots of of heliostat mirrors to focus daylight on samples as much as three toes extensive, simulating atmospheric situations on completely different planets. In contrast to arc jets and lasers, which eat vital energy, this method saves between 15,000 to 60,000 kilowatts per check, equal to working 5,000 to twenty,000 garments dryers concurrently.

The ability’s solar energy tower, 200 toes tall and outfitted with 212 heliostats, supplies a novel setting for testing supplies beneath excessive photo voltaic flux and warmth. “We have now excessive flux and excessive flux distribution on the Photo voltaic Tower,” mentioned Armijo. The ability can simulate hypersonic flight situations and accommodate massive check samples, together with full plane sections. Daylight is concentrated as much as 3,500 occasions its regular depth, permitting exact management over warmth publicity.

In comparison with the $100,000-per-day value of arc jet testing and the $150,000-per-day value of laser testing, photo voltaic testing prices about $25,000 per day, Armijo famous. The depth of daylight may be adjusted by various the variety of heliostats centered on the pattern, mimicking completely different reentry situations. NASA’s lead engineer for the Pattern Retrieval Lander’s warmth protect, Brandon Smith, commented, “Sandia’s capability to check at this dimension properly enhances our different check amenities.”

Testing additionally helps NASA’s Dragonfly mission to Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, with warmth protect supplies created from Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator, developed at NASA’s Ames Analysis Middle. Beforehand utilized in missions like Stardust and Mars 2020, the fabric was examined on two-foot-wide samples at Sandia. The ability’s functionality to check bigger samples allowed NASA to simulate the stress and pressure skilled throughout atmospheric entry.

Dragonfly, a rotorcraft designed to discover Titan’s methane-rich environment, faces distinctive challenges on account of Titan’s dense environment, which is 4 occasions thicker than Earth’s. To recreate the thermal situations of Martian and Titan atmospheric entry, nitrogen gasoline is blown over the warmth protect samples throughout checks. A newly put in gasoline line working from the bottom to the highest of the ability tower ensures satisfactory gasoline circulate, mentioned Armijo.

Daniel Ray, a mechanical technologist at Sandia, was liable for establishing the gasoline line and addressing points throughout checks. “My position on each challenge is to make it work,” Ray mentioned. He resolved a problem with the carbon felt catching hearth by designing ceramic shields to guard the system.

In 2022, Sandia additionally supported the Utilized Physics Laboratory’s checks on a warmth exchanger prototype supposed for future spacecraft. The prototype endured mild ranges equal to 2,000 suns, reaching temperatures of three,100 levels Fahrenheit, demonstrating its capability to face up to the extreme warmth of a detailed photo voltaic flyby.

The ability’s historical past contains varied aerospace tasks, equivalent to testing radar safety domes and evaluating supplies for house shuttles and army plane. Sandia has refined its photo voltaic testing strategies over time, mentioned Armijo. “As a result of we will dial-in the profiles, we’ve extra confidence that it will survive and performance effectively throughout a mission. Having confidence that it’s going to make it to Mars, land and choose up the rocks safely is vital.”

Associated Hyperlinks

Sandia Nationwide Laboratories
Mars Pattern Return

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