Advanced Ablator Thermal Model (Advanced Material Modeling)

NASA funded: Deliver high fidelity TPS response models with direct impact to MPCV and Mars 2020 TPS margin policy and system mass. Improve prediction of Mars entry environments and TPS response to facilitate instrumentation selection and placement and analysis of returned data for MEDLI-2. NASA unfunded: Deliver new TPS modeling capabilities which will increase fidelity and reduce uncertainty, margin and system mass for TPS design for future missions. OGA: Ablative TPS response and gas-phase reactive chemistry modeling improvements directly benefit DoD through an active partnership with AFOSR. NASA (ESM), AFOSR and Sandia National Laboratory currently co-sponsor an annual workshop on ablation modeling that is attended by more than 70 people from multiple government agencies, industry, and academia. Commercial: All of EDL Modeling and Simulation is of direct benefit to commercial space. Commercial companies generally rely on NASA developed tools for in-house EDL analysis (including TPS response), and thus directly benefit from improvements to those tools. SPACE-x has begun the process of acquiring PATO, and other commercial industry partners will follow. Nation: EDL Modeling and Simulation is an enabling capability for spaceflight. Our ability to conduct larger and more complex missions is limited first and foremost by cost, which is a strong function of how well we understand the required system performance. By developing higher fidelity, more accurate predictive M&S capability we enable the customer to make better informed decisions and to better understand performance limits of current and future technologies. A natural consequence is increased reliability, lower mass, and a better understanding of when a fundamentally new technology is in fact required to meet mission objectives.