Advancing Supersonic Retropropulsion Using Mars-Relevant Flight Data: An Overview

Advanced robotic and human missions to Mars require landed masses well in excess of current capabilities. One approach to safely land these large payloads on the Martian surface is to extend the propulsive capability currently required during subsonic descent to supersonic initiation velocities. How...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNASA Center for AeroSpace Information (CASI). Conference Proceedings
Main Authors Braun, Robert D, Sforzo, Brandon, Campbell, Charles H
Format Conference Proceeding
LanguageEnglish
Published Hampton NASA/Langley Research Center 12.09.2017
Subjects
Commercial spacecraft
Data analysis
Deceleration
Design analysis
Firing (igniting)
Infrared analysis
Infrared imagery
Launch vehicles
Manned Mars missions
Mars
Mars surface
Payloads
Reentry
Rocket engines
Rocket firing
Subsonic aircraft
Visual flight
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Summary:Advanced robotic and human missions to Mars require landed masses well in excess of current capabilities. One approach to safely land these large payloads on the Martian surface is to extend the propulsive capability currently required during subsonic descent to supersonic initiation velocities. However, until recently, no rocket engine had ever been fired into an opposing supersonic freestream. In September 2013, SpaceX performed the first supersonic retropropulsion (SRP) maneuver to decelerate the entry of the first stage of their Falcon 9 rocket. Since that flight, SpaceX has continued to perform SRP for the reentry of their vehicle first stage, having completed multiple SRP events in Mars-relevant conditions in July 2017. In FY 2014, NASA and SpaceX formed a three-year public-private partnership centered upon SRP data analysis. These activities focused on flight reconstruction, CFD analysis, a visual and infrared imagery campaign, and Mars EDL design analysis. This paper provides an overview of these activities undertaken to advance the technology readiness of Mars SRP.