Plasmawind tunnel testing as support to the design of gas-surface interaction in-flight experiments

This paper describes part of the development activities for two flight experiments dedicated to the study of catalysis phenomena in atmospheric reentry conditions. Two low earth orbit reentry missions of the European Space Agency, EXPERT and IXV, are considered, as gas-surface interaction and catalysis phenomena are design driver parameters for their Thermal Protection Systems. Catalycity discontinuities, due to different materials junctions promote overheating effects along their surfaces, which have to be carefully handled to guarantee a safe heat shielding. The results of test campaigns performed at the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics in such frame are summarized and discussed. They are dedicated to the ground simulation of the catalytic transition phenomenon under different probes configuration.