Post-Flight Aerodynamic and Aerothermal Model Validation of a Supersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator

摘要: NASA's Low Density Supersonic Decelerator Program is developing new technologies that will enable the landing of heavier payloads in low density environments, such as Mars. A recent flight experiment conducted high above Hawaiian Islands has demonstrated performance several decelerator technologies. In particular, deployment Robotic class Inflatable Aerodynamic (SIAD-R) was highly successful, and valuable data were collected during test flight. This paper outlines Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis used to estimate aerodynamic aerothermal characteristics SIAD-R. Pre-flight post-flight predictions are compared with data, a very good agreement force moment coefficients observed between CFD solutions reconstructed data.