Speaker
Description
The destructive re-entry analysis of spacecraft traditionally focuses on satellites not designed to survive atmospheric re-entry at their end of life. However, the increasing development of vehicles intended to withstand controlled atmospheric re-entry, such as the LEO Cargo Return System (LCRS), Space Rider, and the Entry, Descent and Landing Module (EDLM) of the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin Mission (RFM), introduces new challenges for compliance with Space Debris Mitigation requirements. These systems, while engineered to survive nominal controlled re-entry conditions, must also be assessed for destructive re-entry scenarios in contingency cases to compute the total casualty risk, using DRAMA/SARA tool.
Compared with conventional satellites, re-entry vehicles are way more complex to model as their aerodynamic shapes are optimized for atmospheric re-entry, typically including curved aeroshells and protected by Thermal Protection Systems (TPS) composed of multiple specialized materials arranged in layered tiles and attached to structural components of the aeroshell. These characteristics contrast with the simpler geometries and material typically used and available to represent spacecrafts in DRAMA/SARA.
Two major modelling challenges arise in this context. First, the geometric representation of such complex spacecraft must be achieved within the constraints of DRAMA/SARA, which only allows a limited set of primitive shapes (boxes, cylinders, rings, spheres, and cones). Accurately reproducing the aerodynamic and ballistic properties of capsule-like vehicles therefore requires careful decomposition of the spacecraft into simplified geometrical elements (e.g. through panelisation) while maintaining representative physical behavior. Second, the modelling of TPS materials and their attachment to the Aeroshell and the inner parts of the spacecraft presents additional difficulties as TPS tiles are made of advanced composite or ablative materials with thermal and mechanical properties that differ significantly from conventional spacecraft materials.
To address these challenges, the TAS-I Space Debris team developed innovative modelling approaches to adapt DRAMA/SARA analyses to these complex systems and push the limits of the tool. The proposed methods aim to construct representative spacecraft models that preserve key aerodynamic characteristics and ballistic properties while remaining compatible with the tool’s geometric constraints. Particular attention is given to the modelling of TPS to ensure realistic predictions of fragmentation and demise behavior. In some cases, trade-offs are required between geometric fidelity and other parameters, depending on the project and its specificities; however, the resulting models enable reliable assessments of ground casualty risk and re-entry survivability.
This presentation will describe the progressive methodology developed by TAS-I team when first modelling these re-entry vehicles using DRAMA/SARA. It will outline the main challenges encountered while studying the re-entry of these specific vehicles, the modelling rules adopted to ensure consistency with the software framework, and the practical solutions implemented to improve the representativeness of the analyses. Case studies from LCRS, Space Rider, and ExoMars EDLM destructive re-entry assessments will illustrate the approach for different context. Finally, key lessons learned will be presented as well as recommendations for efficiently modelling complex re-entry vehicles within DRAMA/SARA. These insights aim to support future industrial and institutional studies requiring accurate destructive re-entry analyses for next-generation return vehicles and planetary entry systems.