Abstract
Description of a series of engineering tests that have been run on the radioisotope heat source used for the Multi-Hundred Watt Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MHW-RTG) currently under development. The purpose of the tests was to obtain data required in the design of the re-entry protection, a graphite aeroshell. The tests include wind-tunnel tests run to obtain the aerodynamic coefficients necessary for calculations of re-entry orientation, stability, and motion, tests to measure aerodynamic heating rates and distributions, hypersonic ablation tests run in an arc tunnel to determine aeroshell recession and shape change during simulated trajectories, ablation tests in subsonic flow to determine aeroshell heat and mass transfer characteristics prior to impact, and drop tests to measure the heat source impact velocity. Each of these test programs is discussed in summary form giving test objectives, techniques, hardware, facility, results and conclusions.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages | 65-77 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| State | Published - 1973 |
| Externally published | Yes |
| Event | Intersoc Energy Convers Eng Conf, 8th, Proc, Pap - Philadelphia, PA, USA Duration: Aug 13 1973 → Aug 17 1973 |
Other
| Other | Intersoc Energy Convers Eng Conf, 8th, Proc, Pap |
|---|---|
| City | Philadelphia, PA, USA |
| Period | 8/13/73 → 8/17/73 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Engineering(all)