Mini capsule’s supersonic test!💥

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A miniature capsule shoots off at 4000 km per hour, mimicking the aerodynamics of a Mars atmospheric entry before crashing at supersonic speeds into a wall.

The tiny replica of the Entry, Descent and Landing Module (EDLM) blasts off from a smooth bore gun faster than a speeding bullet. This video has been slowed down 60 times – the actual flight lasted just half a second.

This activity is part of a series of free-flight experiments with a scaled-down version of the ExoMars landing module – measuring just 8 cm in diameter compared to the actual 3.8-metre spacecraft that will carry the Rosalind Franklin rover.

These tests provide critical data on how the spacecraft will behave during its entry into the martian atmosphere. Following a two-year journey to the Red Planet, the ExoMars descent module will approach Mars at a speed of 21 000 km per hour, relying on heat shields, parachutes and retro rockets to land safely.

The first set of tests took place in March at the French-German Research Institute of Saint-Louis(ISL), a front-line research centre with facilities for investigating the aerodynamics of vehicles like reentry capsules.

Engineers equipped the mini ExoMars landing capsule with internal electronics to monitor its 400-metre flight path. The test models were mounted in special sabots that detached from the capsules when fired from the smooth powder gun. Test speeds ranged from 1800 to 4300 kilometres per hour.

The team used 20 models during the tests. Each model carried several sensors to collect flight data. Teams used shadowgraph imaging, magnetometers, accelerometers, and radar to analyse the capsule’s movement, trajectory and stability.

📹 European Space Agency (ESA)
📸 Thales Alenia Space Italia, Ariane Group, Fluid Gravity Engineering Ltd, French-German Research Institute of Saint-Louis

#ESA #Space #Mars

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8 Comments

  1. Recording this supersonic action is quite a feat!
    The camera does not move. We use high-speed cameras mounted on imaging trajectory trackers. The camera is able to record 2000 frames per second.
    The device, fitted with a mirror, enables trajectory tracking over several hundred metres.
    The speed parameters are pre-programmed according to each test. These parameters take into account the initial velocity and how the capsule slows down due to drag. They can be adjusted thanks to two screens along the firing line, which send live information to the trajectory trackers. All this helps control the mirror rotation and keep the capsule in the middle of the frame.

  2. I’m always amazed how science finds ways to test an verify different theories and ideas.
    Knowing this makes it so difficult to accept these non scientists second guessing science without doing any actual work. Usually because the information is inconvenient for them in some way. Climate change comes to mind. Why does it seem it’s almost always right wing ideology that discounts scientific research in favor of political opinion?🤔

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