Radiation from simulated atmospheric entry into the gas giants

When entering a gas giant, the heat transfer to the surface of the entry vehicle is primarily driven by radiation from the shock layer. It is not currently known how existing techniques used to simulate gas giant entry conditions in ground testing facilities affect this radiating shock layer. This paper proposes a two-step process of testing, where initially ground testing is done comparing radiation between actual gas composition gas giant entry conditions and conditions developed using a substitution, before higher speed substituted gas composition testing is done to allow the radiation from entry into all four gas giants to be simulated. The results of a preliminary test campaign are presented here, where a spectrometer was used to measure H radiation in the Balmer Series, and good comparison was found between comparable actual and substituted gas composition flows.