Experimental and Computational Investigation of Rarefied Hypersonic Aerodynamics

Lately, a landing mission to Mars has been proposed at Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). In order to improve the feasibility of the mission, rarefied aerodynamics need to be accurately estimated for a precise determination of its flight path and landing site. In this work, we have investigated rarefied hypersonic aerodynamics experimentally and numerically. A rarefied aerodynamic measurement scheme has been developed by using pendulous models in a hypersonic rarefied wind tunnel (HRWT) at JAXA, and the results were compared with direct simulation Monte Carlo computations. Consequently, numerically predicted aerodynamic coefficients are consistent with the measured values.