Inhibition of decomposition reaction on molecules in laser-induced plasma and environmental testing for aerobraking phase in upper atmosphere of Mars

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K14253
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Aerospace engineering
• Research Institution: Kobe University
• Principal Investigator: Yokota Kumiko 神戸大学, 工学研究科, 助手 (20252794)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): TERAOKA Yuden 量子科学技術研究開発機構, 量子ビーム科学研究部門, 上席研究員 (10343922) ; HAYAKAWA Hajime 宇宙航空研究開発機構, 宇宙科学研究所, 教授 (90167594) ; MATSUMOTO Koji 宇宙航空研究開発機構, 研究開発本部, 主幹研究員 (10470072)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 宇宙環境 / 材料劣化現象 / 火星 / 高層大気

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The upper Martian atmosphere mainly contains carbon dioxide (CO2) and atomic oxygen (AO) depending on the altitude. Spacecraft orbiting in the Martial upper atmosphere encounters high-energy collision with these molecules. In order to evaluate a risk of material erosion possibilities in Martian orbit, a method for ground-based Martian atmospheric simulation was investigated. A laser-detonation hyperthermal beam source was applied and newly designed pulsed supersonic valve (PSV) system, which contains two PSVs into one nozzle, was developed for the Martian atmospheric simulation experiments. It was confirmed that the two gases could be introduced from PSVs individually and successfully formed hyperthermal beams. This configuration allows increasing the freedom of hyperthermal beam formation by mixing two types of gases.

Free Research Field

宇宙環境工学