Seminar: From Huygens to ESTHER
Focusing on previous ESA missions and studies, the talk shall illustrate their link with basic research in the field of aerodynamics and plasmas and more specifically of nonequilibrium radiating flows. Huygens mainly, but also IRDT (Inflatable Reentry and Descent Technology Demonstrator), IRENE (Italian Reentry Nacelle Experiment, to test a deployable braking device) and PHOEBUS (a demonstrator for future sample return capsules) shall be presented. The link with the computation of non-equilibrium radiative flows and their validation shall lead to the presentation of selected European facilities that have been involved in the validation of physical-chemical models. The challenges for future development and research shall be outlined. This seminar will be presented by Prof. Lionel Marraffa.