Plume Flow and Impingement Research at DLR Göttingen

Abstract

Potential spacecraft contamination induced by chemical attitude control thrusters is difficult to assess with engineering models, as it depends on a wide range of parameters whose interaction is not yet fully understood, as flight data is scarce and terrestrial investigation of the free plume expansion is challenging at best. The talk briefly discusses parameters affecting contamination and implications on modelling. It is emphasized that model developments must be closely tied to and backed up by experiment. Requirements for terrestrial plume testing are outlined and DLR test facilities specifically designed for the purpose are presented, along with exemplary results gathered with a bipropellant attitude control thruster.