Aeroheating Predictions for Phoenix Entry Vehicle

[Abstract] Aerothermal analyses of the Phoenix entry vehicle in the Martian Atmosphere are presented. Two Navier-Stokes flow solvers are used to predict the environments experienced by the vehicle along several design trajectories. The majority of the solutions are computed as axisymmetric in order to yield higher, and therefore more conservative, heating rates. Several three-dimensional cases are also computed to assess the heating enhancement caused by surface singularities and the complex aftbody vortices. When the thermal protection system was assessed in a separate analysis in response to the computed aeroheating environments, the prebuilt design is found perform successfully.