National Aeronautics and Space Administration!
Supersonic Retropropulsion Technology
Development in NASA’s Entry, Descent, and
Landing Project
Karl Edquist (Karl.T.Edquist@nasa.gov), Scott Berry, Bil Kleb, Ashley Korzun,
Artem Dyakonov, NASA Langley Research Center
Kerry Zarchi, NASA Ames Research Center
Guy Schauerhamer, Jacobs Technology
Ethan Post, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
9th International Planetary Probe Workshop
Toulouse, France
18-22 June 2012
9th International Planetary Probe Workshop, Toulouse, France, 18-22 June 2012
EDL Project
SRP Team, 2009-2011
•  Langley Research Center
-  Karl Edquist (Lead)
-  Scott Berry
-  Artem Dyakonov
-  Bil Kleb
-  Matt Rhode
-  Jan-Renee Carlson
-  Pieter Buning
-  Chris Laws
-  Jeremy Shidner
-  Joseph Smith
-  Ashley Korzun (GT)
-  Chris Cordell (GT)
-  Bill Oberkampf (Contractor)
-  Juan Cruz Ayoroa (GT)
-  Josh Codoni (UVa)
-  Patrick Schultz (UNCC)
2
•  Ames Research Center
-  Kerry Zarchi
-  Emre Sozer
-  Ian Dupzyk
-  Noel Bakhtian
•  Jet Propulsion Laboratory
-  Ethan Post
-  Art Casillas
-  Rebekah Tanimoto
•  Johnson Space Center
-  Guy Schauerhamer
-  Bill Studak
-  Mike Tigges
•  Glenn Research Center
-  Tim Smith
-  Bill Marshall
9th International Planetary Probe Workshop, Toulouse, France, 18-22 June 2012
Motivation
•  Problem: Mars EDL technologies
are nearing their payload limit
-  Mars Science Laboratory Ã ïƒ 4.5 m aeroshell
+ 21.5 m parachute = 1 metric ton (t)
payload within ~10 km of target
-  ~1.1 t max. to 0 km using MSL system
(AIAA 2011-7294)
•  Goals beyond MSL:
-  Order of magnitude more mass (10s of t)
-  Four orders of magnitude better accuracy
(meters)
-  Higher landing elevation
•  Candidate enabling technologies
includes Supersonic
Retropropulsion (SRP)
3
EDL-SA Architecture with SRP
(NASA/TM-2010-216720)
MSL Aerodynamic
Decelerators
40 t payload
“As Mars mission