The proposed diagnostics are needed in test programs for atmospheric reentry and planetary entry at NASA's arc jet facilities, hypersonic wind tunnels, and shock tunnels. Non-intrusive unseeded measurements of temperature, velocity, and dissociation are required for validating fluid/chemistry models that incorporate real-gas kinetics, including those used to predict planetary entry aerothermodynamics. The diagnostics can serve as tools in very high enthalpy flow experiments that focus on testing the integrity of thermal protection systems.
The unique capability to measure temperature, velocity, and dissociation fraction in high enthalpy flows will be attractive to the private space industry, including low Earth orbit and planetary exploration. Programs include delivery of cargo and astronauts to the ISS, and deep space exploration, i.e. involving Mars. Other applications are combustion diagnostics in premixed and diffusion flames.
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