Investigation of Magnetic Heat Shielding During Spacecraft Re-Entry Using HTS Magnet – Preliminary Experimental Design

Abstract

A spacecraft re-entering the Earth's atmosphere must endure extremely high heat loads. These heat loads are created by the rapid deceleration of the spacecraft causing shock waves which in turn create a high-temperature plasma. Passive thermal protection based on ablative materials is the current solution for spacecraft heat shielding, but it is limited by material durability. As an alternative, magnetic heat shielding has shown great potential to deflect and redirect the plasma. However, fully understanding of the concept requires further experimental validation. Paihau-Robinson Research Institute has designed and built a high-temperature superconductor (HTS) system, which will be used to test the magnetic heat shielding concept at the German Aerospace Centre's (DLR) shock tunnel, where realistic flow conditions for hypersonic flight configurations are created. This paper reports the design of the HTS system with some preliminary experimental results on its performance. The shock wave stand-off distance is calculated based on the designed field (2T), which will be compared with the experimental data using a high-speed camera at DLR's shock tunnel in 2025.