3D ray tracing solver for communication blackout analysis in atmospheric entry missions

During the atmospheric entry phase at hypersonic speed, radio communication from/to a space vehicle can be disrupted due to formation of plasma sheath within surrounding flow field. In order characterize such blackout phases, this work presents numerical methodology combining Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) simulations ionized chemically reacting flows by means Object-Oriented Libraries for Dynamics (COOLFluiD) and ray tracing analysis newly developed BlackOut RAy Tracer (BORAT). The latter is based on solution 3D Eikonal system equations, offering fast, efficient accurate method analyse interaction between electromagnetic signals weakly ionised plasmas. proposed methodology, BORAT in particular, first verified popular benchmark cases then used European Space Agency (ESA) 2016 ExoMars Schiaparelli flight into Martian environment. corresponding results demonstrate validity approach predicting blackout, where emitted from on-board antenna undergo reflection refraction vehicle, advantage analysing real configuration.