Post flight Analysis of Mars Science Laboratory Entry Aerothermal Environment and Thermal Protection System Response
The Mars Science Laboratory rover landed at Gale Crater on August 5 th 2012. The rover was protected from the extreme heating environments of Martian atmospheric entry by an ablative heatshield. This tiled Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator heatshield was instrumented with a suite of sensors that monitored the in depth ablator temperature response and the surface pressure at discrete locations. This paper presents a comparison of the flight data with post entry analysis at the discrete sensor locations. From the flight data, we postulate that the heatshield experienced roughness induced turbulent transition due to roughness elements around the heatshield tile and sensor plugs. We find that the analytical ablator material model performs well and can be used directly with the in depth temperature data. Finally, we assess the performance of the ablation sensors, and predict the bondline temperature rise. The flight data from the instrumentation, along with the successful landing of the rover, confirms the performance of the heatshield and the conservative heatshield design and margins process.