Paihau—Robinson Space Blog

A team from Paihau—Robinson Research Institute at Victoria University of Wellington/Te Herenga Waka is testing a prototype spacecraft re-entry heat shield in collaboration with the German Aerospace Center (DLR)‘s DLR Institute of Aerodynamics and Flow Technology in Göttingen.

The heart of our heat shield prototype is a powerful high-temperature superconducting magnet, which generates magnetic fields greater than those used for medical diagnostic imaging. The testing will verify the effectiveness of the magnet to deflect supersonic flows of the hot, electrically charged gases which spacecraft encounter when returning to Earth from space. If successfully demonstrated, this experiment will open the door to protecting future astronauts with a system that improves the multi-use lifespan of spacecraft and produces far less atmospheric pollution than created by traditional heat shields.

We brought our prototype to Germany to test in DLR’s unique High Enthalpy Shock Tunnel Göttingen (HEG) that simulates conditions seen by spacecraft re-entering Earth’s atmosphere. This facility provides the data necessary to characterise our prototype’s responses to these extreme conditions.

The test results will be jointly analysed by teams at Paihau-Robinson and DLR to better understand how hot, supersonic plasmas interact with very high magnetic fields. These insights will enable the design of more advanced heat shield designs, eventually leading to flight tests.

In the picture below is the heat shield prototype – comprised of a magnet enclosed in a stainless steel housing – is installed in DLR’s HEG (right); schlieren image from initial testing, showing shock wave interacting with the magnetic heat shield prototype (left). A closeup of the initial shock wave interacting with the heat shield model can be seen in the header image.

More information on Paihau—Robinson’s research in this area:

https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/robinson/research/space-research/applications/applications

More information on the DLR High Enthalpy Shock Tunnel Göttingen (HEG):
https://www.dlr.de/en/research-and-transfer/research-infrastructure/high-enthalpy-shock-tunnel-goettingen

Image: heat shield prototype – comprised of a magnet enclosed in a stainless steel housing – is installed in DLR’s HEG (right); schlieren image from initial testing, showing shock wave interacting with the magnetic heat shield prototype (left)