The unique atmospheric compositions of the “ice giant” planets Uranus and Neptune have been recreated to simulate their deep plunges using suitably adapted European shock tube and plasma facilities. Ta.
The test campaign, conducted as part of an effort to simulate flights for proposed atmospheric probes, achieved comparable speeds of up to 19km/s, but would be far slower than the probes would reach to these gas giants. Further work is required to reach practical speeds.
Tests were conducted in hypersonic plasma T6 Stalker Tunnel at Oxford University In the UK, Plasma wind tunnel of the High Enthalpy Flow Diagnostics Group at the University of Stuttgart In Germany, as shown in the video clip here.
Whether by impact, landing, or atmospheric probes, man-made spacecraft have contacted every planet in the solar system except two of the outer gas giants, Uranus and Neptune.
now both NASA and ESA are considering future missions to this interesting pair, which are about the same size.
Although superficially similar to Jupiter and Saturn, which have atmospheres of hydrogen and helium, Uranus and Neptune also contain significantly heavier elements in the form of “supercritical” liquid oceans deep beneath their surface clouds. It accounts for most of the mass of both planets.
Both worlds have methane in their atmospheres, which is responsible for their blue appearance, but Neptune has less methane and is concentrated in the lower part of the atmosphere, making it difficult for the spacecraft to explore. It is not a factor in modeling flight.
As part of future missions to one or both worlds, atmospheric probes such as: Flighted by NASA’s Galileo mission to Jupiter It’s high on my scientific wish list.
“The challenge is that any spacecraft will be exposed to high pressures and temperatures, so it will require a high-performance thermal protection system to withstand atmospheric entry for any meaningful amount of time,” said Lewis, an aerothermodynamics engineer at ESA. Walpot explains.
“To begin designing such a system, we first need to adapt current European test facilities to reproduce the atmospheric composition and velocities involved.”
The entry speed of atmospheric probes is set by the speed required to orbit them. For Uranus and Neptune, the inertial velocity is about 25 km/s.
This is a joint UK/Germany/ESA project, supported by the agency’s Integrated Support Technology Programme. As a next step, work is underway to extend the simulation speeds achievable in both the Oxford and Stuttgart wind tunnels.
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