Research

Konstantinos Kontis

Our project objectives

During atmospheric entry any object from outer space, experiences high temperatures and forces caused by the aerodynamic drag. Dealing with such extreme conditions is challenging and crucial to ensure safe entry for future missions.

In addition, lading on celestial bodies brings further complications due to the presence of regolith – un-weathered highly abrasive and electro-statically charged dust particles that cause a wide range of problems (i.e. clogging, abrasion).

Our project methodology

In support of planetary and lunar landing environments, we offer a unique set of tools and expertise capable of simulating the re-entry and the conditions faced by the spacecraft during descend and landing. The University of Glasgow hosts a large volume dirty vacuum facility capable of achieving and maintaining high vacuum conditions even when the additional mass flow such as that encountered during jet firing.

By adopting a synergetic approach involving advanced experimental measurements (e.g. PIV, Schlieren, IR Thermography) and numerical tools (rarefied gas modelling, optimal sensing network design and physics informed neural network), we investigate fundamental problems to devise industry pertinent solutions to ongoing challenges.