麻豆淫院

(麻豆淫院Org.com) -- A spacecraft control flap designed for the super-heated hypersonic fall through Earth鈥檚 atmosphere has come through testing in the world鈥檚 largest plasma wind tunnel to be ready for its first flight next year.

This flap and its advanced sensors are destined to fly on ESA鈥檚 Expert 鈥� the European Experimental Reentry Testbed 鈥� a blunt-nosed capsule being shot up to the edge of space next spring on a Russian Volna rocket to gather data on atmospheric reentry at 5 km/s.

Expert carries experimental side flaps to help show that they can steer larger ESA reentry vehicles such as the IXV Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle in 2013.

鈥淭his flap is fitted with a variety of instruments, including cameras, pressure monitors and an ultraviolet spectrometer to gather data during the hottest two minutes of Expert鈥檚 15-minute flight,鈥� explained Jan Thoemel, Expert Project Scientist.  

鈥淲e needed to prove this instrumentation will indeed function as planned, and check our mathematical modelling was accurate. 鈥淭his meant recreating the extreme environment of atmospheric reentry down on the ground.鈥�

Italy鈥檚 Scirocco plasma wind tunnel in Capua, near Naples, is one of the few sites worldwide where such testing is possible.

Named for the hot Mediterranean wind and operated by the CIRA aerospace research centre, Scirocco runs vast amounts of power through an arc heater, heating up air into a blowtorch-like plasma that jets through its 2 m-diameter tunnel.

Its arc heater was taken up to 10 000潞C with 38 MW of electricity, creating a plasma flow seven times the speed of sound and bringing the temperature of the flap up to 1200潞C.

Identical to the flight version, the test flap is made from heat-resistant ceramics. Its instruments include a miniature infrared camera provided by RUAG Space Switzerland and pressure and high-temperature sensors developed by the German Aerospace Center DLR and CIRA.

鈥淎fter years of preparation we performed four test runs on 13 April, comfortably exceeding the heat loads we anticipate the flap will encounter during its spaceflight aboard Expert,鈥� explained Jan.

鈥淓ach test reached 1.75 times the flight heat load, amounting to seven times the flight heat load overall.

鈥淒espite this, our instrumentation performed excellently, validating it for actual flight.

鈥淚n the months that followed we鈥檝e been comparing the test results to our software models to highlight any discrepancies, as a way of improving the computational fluid dynamics design tools used for Expert.鈥�

Running on the equivalent energy consumption of a small town, Scirocco鈥檚 construction was co-funded by ESA and the Italian Ministry for University and Research, with 鈥榳ind-on鈥� occurring in March 2001.

The facility serves a wide variety of customers worldwide. Its operator CIRA is playing a wider role in preparing for Expert鈥檚 flight.

鈥淭his test campaign represented a particular challenge because it was approaching the limits of the facility鈥檚 capabilities,鈥� explained Giulano Marino of CIRA.
 
鈥淢any new components had to be installed first, requiring extensive testing, but the results speak for themselves.鈥�

The Scirocco testing was funded through ESA鈥檚 Basic Technology Research Program, which supports new technology development.

The Expert capsule, studded with around 150 different sensors, is due to fly in spring 2012, sea-launched from a Russian submarine for recovery on Russia鈥檚 Kamchatka peninsula.