A new controllable inflatable shield for reentry

IRDT (Inflatable Reentry and Descent Technology), which is characterized by simple structure and low recovery cost, is a new concept for spacecraft reentry in recent years. It can improve the aerodynamic heating environment so the requirement for the shield material can be reduced greatly. By considering all of above factors, a new controllable inflatable shield for reentry is presented. On one hand, this shield can decelerate the reentry flight vehicle to a very low velocity (lower than 20m/s) in low density atmosphere, and thus alleviate the aerodynamic heating to the material of the shield immensely. On the other hand, the shield improves the accuracy of the landing point for the reentry flight vehicle because it can actively adjust the attitude of the reentry flight vehicle according to its predesigned trajectory by inflating or deflating its inflatable bags without any thrusters. Results of CFD simulation show that this kind of inflatable shield for reentry can provide adequate aerodynamic forces and moments for deceleration and attitude control. Analysis of aerodynamic heating reveals that the complexity for shield designing can be heavily reduced, because the heating rate to shield surface (peak heat flux 426 kW/m²) is lessened largely compared to traditional process of reentry without this shield (peak heat flux 4826 kW/m²).