ABSTRAK

The aerodynamics of an reentry capsule, Orion Crew Module, during its high altitudereentry from the Earth’s orbit are studied using numerical simulations. The conditions aresimilar to those that the Orion Crew Module would face when coming back from spacemissions. The simulations are performed for non-reacting rarefied gas flows which coverthe range of hypersonic flow regimes from free molecular to slip flow (Knudsen numbersfrom 111 to 0.0263). The simulations are done with Direct Simulation Monte Carlo codefrom hyStrath, the open-source OpenFOAM solvers for hypersonic/rarefied gas dynamicsdeveloped by Casseau, et al. The aerodynamics forces and moments are shown to dependon the degree of incidence angle and rarefaction. The results agree well with DS3V coderesults from Moss, et al. with relatively small errors.