Mach, Reynolds, and Strouhal Number Effects on Deployable Aeroshell Pitch Dynamics

What is it about?

Spacecrafts designed to enter, descend and land on planets are usually characterized by a blunt frontal geometry to withstand the high heating. This geometry leads to recirculating, turbulent flows on the rear portion of the vehicle, which can lead to unexpected oscillations and high roll rates, potentially compromising the mission. This work aims to characterize these instabilities in the context of novel deployable vehicles designed for Mars missions.

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