Aerodynamic force characteristics of mars entry vehicles

To the demand of future space vehicle engineering design, an aerodynamic force prediction method considering the Mars entry environment was developed for an Adventurer-like vehicle at different Mars orbits. The numerical solution of the Navier-Stokes equations was employed in continuum flow regime, an engineering prediction method was introduced in free molecule flow regime, and the aerodynamic forces in transition flow regime were estimated by using the bridging function technique. Validation of the algorithm was carried on in the Earth reentry environment. Then, the aerodynamic force characteristics and flow fields of the space vehicle considered here were calculated and analyzed in the Mars entry environment.