In this paper, we study the scheme of a descent vehicle’s return from the Moon using several intermediate passages of the Earth’s atmosphere before landing. The features of the behavior of these trajectories near the Earth are shown for a ballistic capsule and gliding descent vehicles with low aerodynamic quality (0.3–0.5). Using the atmosphere as a natural braking method reduces inertial and thermal loads in comparison with direct entry at near-parabolic velocity. However, a decrease in the magnitude of loads is accompanied by an increase in the duration of their impact. Even in the case of one intermediate passage of the atmosphere, this leads to the burnout of a noticeably larger (compared to direct entry) mass of the heat-protective coating, which is a key factor in ensuring the safety of the descent. This paper shows that the use of trajectories with one intermediate passage of the atmosphere makes it possible to change the nature of the carryover of a heat-protective coating consisting of a filler and binder. For direct entry with a near-parabolic velocity, the destruction of the filler occurs accompanied by a change in the shape of the vehicle. When using the scheme with preliminary atmospheric braking, the bulk of the carried away matter falls on the binder, which brings the descent mode closer to the repeatedly worked out in practice descent from low near-Earth orbit.
Thermal Analysis of Trajectories of Return from the Moon Using Several Entries into the Atmosphere for Ballistic Capsule and Gliding Descent Vehicles
Cosmic Res
Cosmic Research ; 59 , 3 ; 162-174
2021-05-01
13 pages
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
Maximum-Endurance Return-to-Target Gliding Trajectories
AIAA | 1980
|Free Return Trajectories to Moon
IEEE | 2019
|Disturbance ranging in capsule atmosphere descent
Online Contents | 2010
|Disturbance ranging in capsule atmosphere descent
Springer Verlag | 2010
|