CALCULATION OF RADIATION FLUXES TO THE SURFACE OF 
A SPACE VEHICLE WITH THE AID OF A DISCRETE
ORDINATES METHOD

M. V. Filipskii and S. T. Surzhikov

UDC 537.525

@ABSTRACT = A method and results of numerical modeling of radiative 
heating of the back surface of the MSRO (Mars Sample Return Orbiter) 
space vehicle of the European Space Agency are presented. To determine 
radiation heat fluxes, the method of discrete ordinates on unstructured 
tetrahedral grids is used. The radiative model is based on the radiation-
transfer equation in a multigroup approximation. Numerical calculation has 
been performed for the most thermally stressed point of the assumed 
trajectory of the entry of an MSRO-type space vehicle into the Mars 
atmosphere. A comparison with the discrete ordinates method on structured 
grids is made. Good agreement between the results of calculations 
on structured and unstructured grids is demonstrated. The level of 
radiation heat fluxes to the back surface of the MSRO space vehicle 
is predicted.

Institute for Problems of Mechanical Engineering, Russian 
Academy of Sciences, 101/1 Vernadskii Ave., Moscow, 117526, Russia; 
email: filipsky_maxim@mail.ru. 
Translated from Inzhenerno-Fizicheskii Zhurnal, Vol. 80, No. 2, pp. 71-78, 
March-April, 2007. Original article submitted August 1, 2005.