Three-Dimensional Radiation Analysis of the Hypersonic Jules Verne Reentry Spectra

Abstract

The automatic transfer vehicle (ATV) Jules Verne, developed by the European Space Agency, played a crucial role in resupply missions to the International Space Station from 2008 to 2015. Following its resupply missions, Jules Verne was programmed to execute a planned destructive reentry into Earth’s atmosphere. To better understand the spectra generated by the Jules Verne, three-dimensional hypersonic flowfield and radiation analyses are performed at the 75 km trajectory point of the ATV. Results are compared to measurements obtained at 78 and 73 km by a miniature Echelle spectrograph operated from an airborne platform. Incorporating three-dimensional effects into the radiation analysis results in an overall reduction of the total radiation spectra and a decrease in atomic and molecular features, leading to a closer alignment between the observed and simulated values. Comparable effects are observed by making minor adjustments to the internal mode temperatures and modifying the model for the population of excited state number densities.