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Commercial Upgraded Military Heritage Re-entry Vehicle Thermal Sensorsfor Current Generation TPS Material Ground & Flight Test Evaluation

Paper/Presentation to the Thermal & Fluids Analysis Workshop (TFAWS) 2004Pasadena California, Paper no. 109-A0027

August 30 through September 3, 2004

John M. Cassanto, President & CEO George D’Heilly, KSC Manager Ted Moller, Manager

Phil Ritchie. Consultant Roger Wayne, Specialist

108 Ashland Drive

Downingtown, PA 19335 Tel: (610) 280 0869, (610) 363 7971 Cell: 484 431 5028 Fax: (610) 524 1988 Email: AstrometricsJMC@aol.com

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OVERVIEW/SUMMARY

1. FLIGHT TEST INSTRUMENTATION WERE DEVELOPED IN THE 70’s FOR DOD RE-ENTRY VEHICLES TO EVALUATE HEATSHIELD/TPS PERFORMANCE

2. TPS SENSORS WERE SPUN OFF AS A COMMERCIAL ENDEAVOR IN THE MID 80’s AND HAVE BEEN AVAILABLE FOR MORE THAN 20 YEARS

3. THE SENSORS HAVE BEEN CONTINUOUSLY UPGRADED AND SUBJECTED TO FULL SCALE FLIGHT TESTS (TRL 6) TO MEET CLIENT REQUIREMENTS - INCREASED SENSITIVITY

- SMALLER FOOTPRINT - TAILORED TO SPECIFIC TPS MATERIAL

- HIGHER OPERATING TEMPERATURES

4. TPS INSTRUMENTATION HAS FOCUSED ON - HEATFLUX/TRANSITION SENSORS - ABLATION/RECESSION SENSORS - MULTI-ELEMENT THERMOCOUPLE PLUGS - ACCURATE DUAL RANGE PRESSURE SENSORS

5. UPGRADED COMMERICAL TPS SENSORS WITH A MILITARY HERATIGE & TRACK RECORD CAN BE USED FOR CURRENT NASA AND DOD FLIGHT & GROUND TEST EVALUATION OF ADVANCED TPS ABLATIVE MATERIALS

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• 1. R/V TPS INSTRUMENTATION: DOD HERATIGE

. 2. HEAT FLUX/TRANSITION MEASUREMENTS: DELTA-T SENSOR

. 3. ABLATION MEASUREMENTS: ARAD SENSOR

.4. ISOTHERMAL MEASUREMENTS: 4 ELEMENT EMBEDDED T/C PLUG

.5. FLIGHT TEST DATA: UNIQUE EXAMPLES

6. SENSOR/UPGRADES

•7. CONCLUSIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS

AGENDA

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TYPICAL FLIGHT TEST THERMAL INSTRUMENTATION REQUIRED TO EVALUATE TPS MATERIALS

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DOD Aerospace “Off-the-Shelf” Heat Shield Instrumentation

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Flight Heritage of Delta-T, ARAD, & Embedded Plug Multi-Element Thermocouple Sensors

• Air Force: Minuteman MK-12, 12A, PVM, STV, RVAP, ABRES, MTV, RVTO-1, RVTA-3B, Carbon-Carbon Nose Tip Flights, LBRV Recovered Vehicle

• NASA: GALILEO Jupiter Entry Probe flew Commercial ARAD Sensors. Heatshield survived to lower altitudes than predicted based on ARAD telemetry data.

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DELTA-T HEATFLUX/TRANSITION GAGE

FLIGHT DATA

• Q - Heating Rate

• Onset of Transition from Laminar to Turbulent

• Transition Front Mapping & Asymmetries

• Aggravated Heating Data: Potential for TPS Gouging

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Delta-T Heat Flux/Transition Gage

SCHEMATIC

PHOTO

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Examples of Precision Laser Welding of Delta-T

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Delta-T Raw Telemetry Flight Test Data

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THE DELTA-T GAGE HAS A TIME RESPOSE IN MILISECONDS COMPARABLE TO A BLAM ACCOUSTIC GAGE

BLAM ACCOUSTICSENSOR RAW FLIGHT DATA

DELTA-T HEAT FLUX & TRANSITION SENSOR RAW FLIGHT DATA

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The Miniaturized Delta-T Transition Gage has a Low Inboard Profile

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Samples of the Standard & Double Delta-T

STANDARD DELTA-T SENSOR

DOUBLE DELTA-T SENSORBUILT TO LOCKHEED MARTIN REQUIREMENTS FOR DUAL RANGE &INCREASED SENSITIVITY PERFORMANCE

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LAMINAR FLOW AT T~1.5 SEC

TURBULENT FLOWAT T~1.5 SEC

DELTA-T TELEMETRY DATA CAN DETERMINE THE PRESENSE OF HIGH ALTITUDETURBULENT WEDGES AFT OF ANTENNA WINDOWS PRIOR TO ONSET OF R/V TRANSITION

RAW DELTA-T TELEMETRY DATATURBULENT FLOW WEDGE MAP

LAMINAR FLOW AT T~1.5 SEC

TURBULENT FLOWAT T~1.5 SEC

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Transition Mapping & High Altitude Turbulent Wedges From Delta-T Gage R/V Flight Test Data

Boundary Layer Transition Map Turbulent Wedge Definition

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TURBULENT WEDGES AFT OF ANTENNA WINDOWS MEASURED FROMDELTA-T SENSOR TELEMETRY DATA

FLIGHT DATA FROM RECOVERED R/V & ARAD SENSOR TELEMETRY SHOWING AGRAVATED HEATING AND RECESSION AFT OF ANTENNA WINDOWS

TURBULENT WEDGES FORM IN R/V LAMINAR FLOW AFT OF ANTENNA WINDOWS BASED ON FLIGHT TEST DATA

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ARAD (ANALOG RESISTANCE ABLATION DETECTOR) GAGE

FLIGHT DATA• Ablation/Recession History of TPS

• Defines Char Layer-Virgin Heat Shield I/F

• Monitors TPS Degradation Isotherm

• Defines HS Margin Vs Altitude via Telemetry

• Aggravated Heating/Gouging in Critical Zones

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Schematic Showing ARAD Recession/Char layer Sensor for Flight & Ground TPS Evaluation

REFERENCE: “ A SIMPLE RECESSION GAGE FOR INFLIGHT MEASUREMENT OF THE CHAR DEGRADATION ZONE FOR RE-ENTRY VEHCILE HEATSHIELDS” ISA PAPER BY J. M. CASSANTO ET AL ., 26TH INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTATION SYMPOSIUM, SEATTLE, MAY 5-8, 1980

ARAD SENSOR

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Raw ARAD Telemetry Recession Flight Data

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LBRV-1 ARAD Recession Data Compared with Previous Flight Data

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Comparison of ARAD Flight Recession Data with Predictions

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ARAD HEATSHIELD ABLATION FLIGHT DATA AND CHAR LAYER CORRELATION

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Galileo Jupiter Probe Used ARAD Sensors to Determine Recession History & Ablated Shape

• Jupiter Probe TPS Experienced Severe Conditions

• Mach No ~50, Velocity ~47 Km/sec • Re-entry Loads ~ 250 g’s• Peak Heating Rate ~ 30kW/cm, 300kJ/cm• ARAD Sensors Provided by GE for the Jupiter Probe

Obtained Good Data and Met Mission Requirements• GE is no Longer in the Flight Sensor Business • ARAD Sensors Provided to NASA for the Jupiter Probe

were Fabricated by GE/Astrometrics Personnel. Jupiter Probe ARAD Design Has been Upgraded and has been Available “Off the Shelf” Commercially Since the 1980’s.

F

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Galileo Jupiter Probe Used ARAD Sensors to Determine Recession History & Ablated Shape

• Jupiter Probe TPS Experienced Severe Conditions

• Mach No ~50, Velocity ~47 Km/sec • Re-entry Loads ~ 250 g’s• Peak Heating Rate ~ 30kW/cm, 300kJ/cm• ARAD Sensors Provided by GE for the Jupiter Probe

Obtained Good Data and Met Mission Requirements• GE is no Longer in the Flight Sensor Business • ARAD Sensors Provided to NASA for the Jupiter Probe

were Fabricated by GE/Astrometrics Personnel. Jupiter Probe ARAD Design Has been Upgraded and has been Available “Off the Shelf” Commercially Since the 1980’s.

F

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ARAD TPS Ablation Data From NASA Jupiter Probe

ARAD Recession Data from Jupiter ProbeJupiter Probe Configuration with ARAD Locations

Typical ARAD Sensor for Jupiter Probe Fabricated by GE/Astrometrics Personnel. Figure From Ed Martinez Presentation titled “Thermal Microsensor development” NASA Ames Research Center, August 23, 2003

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ARAD Flight Test Recession Data on Quartz Phenolic Nose Tip

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Matrix of ARAD* Sensors Flown on Various Heat Shield Materials

* All ARAD Sensors were Fabricated by GE/Astrometrics Personnel

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Thermal Arc Ground Data Comparison of a Single ARAD Sensor with Two Discrete Thermocouple Plug Data Points (1300 deg Isotherm)

One ARAD Sensor, Continuous Data

Two Plug Thermocouplesat Two Discrete Data Pointsin time

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4 Discrete Single 1300 F Thermocouple Data Pts, 4 TM Chs, 4 Checkout/ Sensor Stem Tests

Four Plug TC’s

One ARAD Sensor, Continuous Data Throughout Re-entry , 1 TM Channel, 1 Checkout/Sensor Stem Test

Single ARAD

Flight Comparison of a Single ARAD Sensor with Multiple Plug Thermocouples at Different Depths

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BASIC REFERENCE FOR THE ARAD ABLATION GAGE

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QUAD MULTI-ELEMENT EMBEDDED THERMOCOUPLE PLUG

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MULTI-ELEMENT QUAD EMBEDDED PLUG THERMOUCOUPLE

PHOTO OF FOUR EMEMENT PLUG THERMOCOUPLE

SCHEMATIC OF FOUR ELEMENT PLUGTHERMOCOUPLE

TYPICAL FLIGHT DATA FROM MULTI-ELEMENTEMBEDDED PLUG THERMOCOUPLE

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• Delta-T: Operates at temperatures in the range of 2150 Deg F. Range can be extended to 3150 Deg F if required.

• ARAD: Operates in 1300 to 3500 Deg F isotherm. Range can be extended.

• Quad: Embedded Plug T/C’s current temperature range is 2500 to 4000 Deg F.

• Dual Range Extender for Pressure Sensors: Electronics prototype needs to proceed to flight hardware status

Capability/Status of Existing Delta-T, ARAD, & Multi-Element Thermocouple Plug Sensors

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Concluding Remarks (TPS Validation)

• Flight Test Data is Essential & Real World.

• Use of Reliable Sensors with a Flight Heritage is Cost Effective for both ground & Flight tests.

• Existing Upgraded “Off the Shelf” Military Heritage Commercial Sensors operate in the 2500 to 4000 Deg F range and are Applicable for NASA Planetary Probes and DOD Ballistic & Maneuvering Glide Vehicles.

• Commercial Sensors can be Further Upgraded to Include Higher Temperature Capability & Tailored to new TPS Requirements/Characteristics if Needed.

• The Commercial TPS Sensors Described in this Paper will be Tested in a Silica Phenolic Heat Shield at the Langley Thermal Arc 4th quarter 2004.