14 Facts About Atmospheric entry

1.

Atmospheric entry is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite.

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2.

An alternative method of controlled atmospheric entry is buoyancy which is suitable for planetary entry where thick atmospheres, strong gravity, or both factors complicate high-velocity hyperbolic entry, such as the atmospheres of Venus, Titan and the gas giants.

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3.

Practical development of reAtmospheric entry systems began as the range, and reAtmospheric entry velocity of ballistic missiles increased.

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4.

From simple engineering principles, Allen and Eggers showed that the heat load experienced by an entry vehicle was inversely proportional to the drag coefficient; i e, the greater the drag, the less the heat load.

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5.

Pure spherical Atmospheric entry vehicles were used in the early Soviet Vostok and Voskhod capsules and in Soviet Mars and Venera descent vehicles.

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6.

Space exploration sphere-cone Atmospheric entry vehicles have landed on the surface or entered the atmospheres of Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and Titan.

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7.

Direct friction upon the reAtmospheric entry object is not the main cause of shock-layer heating.

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8.

The distance from the shock wave to the stagnation point on the Atmospheric entry vehicle's leading edge is called shock wave stand off.

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9.

Non-equilibrium air in the shock layer is then transported past the Atmospheric entry vehicle's leading side into a region of rapidly expanding flow that causes freezing.

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10.

Consequently, for Atmospheric entry trajectories causing lower heat flux, carbon phenolic is sometimes inappropriate and lower-density TPS materials such as the following examples can be better design choices:.

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11.

SLA-561V is a proprietary ablative made by Lockheed Martin that has been used as the primary TPS material on all of the 70° sphere-cone Atmospheric entry vehicles sent by NASA to Mars other than the Mars Science Laboratory .

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12.

However, the velocity attained by SpaceShipOne prior to reAtmospheric entry is much lower than that of an orbital spacecraft, and engineers, including Rutan, recognize that a feathered reAtmospheric entry technique is not suitable for return from orbit.

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13.

Feathered reAtmospheric entry was first described by Dean Chapman of NACA in 1958.

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14.

The reAtmospheric entry was a major media event largely due to the Cosmos 954 incident, but not viewed as much as a potential disaster since it did not carry toxic nuclear or hydrazine fuel.

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