Conceptual Design of a Small Earth Reentry Vehicle for Biological Sample Return
Abstract
A conceptual design of an Earth return vehicle is presented with the goal of safely returning biological samples from orbit. Key entry, descent, and landing trade studies were completed at the conceptual level for two different mission scenarios: return from the International Space Station and an autonomous, free-flying vehicle returning from low Earth orbit. The analyses that follow for each key subsystem drove design decisions to create the Biopan Deployment in Orbit for Microgravity Exposure vehicle with the versatility to satisfy both of the aforementioned mission scenarios. The final design features a ballistic entry, a 45 deg sphere cone aeroshell with a diameter of 88 cm, a phenolic impregnated carbon ablator heat shield with a thickness of 7.7 cm, and a passive landing system containing an 8-m-diam ringsail parachute combined with a 7.8-cm-thick crushable carbon foam. Analysis of the vehicle performance verified survivability of biological samples due to heat and deceleration loads from entry. Trajectory dispersion analysis yielded crossrange and downrange limited to ±1.5 and ±30km, respectively, whereas landing velocity was confirmed to be ≤4.0m/s for all cases.
Additional Information
© 2016 by Grant Rossman, Matthew J. LeVine, Sean Lawlor, Tyler Sloss, Pranay Mishra, Zu Puayen Tan, and Robert D. Braun. The authors would like to thank John Dec for his insights on thermal protection system sizing methods.Attached Files
Published - 1.a33568.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 119920
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20230310-764569000.8
- Created
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2023-03-14Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2023-03-14Created from EPrint's last_modified field