Chemical Non-Equilibrium Model of the Martian Atmosphere

Abstract

The DLR (German Aerospace Center) CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) code TAU is validated and used for the wide Mach number range of aerospace applications. The majority of the applications in the past focused on the earth atmosphere including high enthalpy air flows in thermal and chemical non equilibrium. With the increasing interest in missions to Mars the modeling of the Martian atmosphere consisting of 97% carbon dioxide and 3% nitrogen became a task within the ESA (European Space Agency) TRP (technical research project) 'CFD validation in CO2 environment'. The improvements of the chemical non equilibrium model achieved during the project are discussed and their influence is shown in relation to an experimental investigation.