Thermophysics of Spacecraft and Outer Planet Entry Probes

Thermophysics has experienced a dramatic growth over the past fifteen years as a space technology utilized in the thermal design of spacecraft and entry vehicles and, indeed, has been molded into a well-defined subject of considerable practical and fundamental importance. It is an interdisciplinary field of science and engineering founded on the basic principles of heat transfer, thermodynamics and thermophysical properties, solid-state and optical physics, and cryogenics. The rapid development of the field is attributed to its essential and major role in helping man satisfy his basic desire to seek scientific and engineering information concerning space and planetary environments. The papers were selected from the thermophysics sessions at the AIAA 14thAerospace Sciences Meeting in Washington, DC in January 1976 and the AIAA 1lth Thermophysics Conference in San Diego, CA in July 1976. These papers are grouped into five chapters, each of which is a distinct and coherent unit: spacecraft thermal control devices, thermal conduction and constriction resistance, surface contamination and radiative property degradation, rocket exhaust plume radiation, and radiative entry heating of outer planet probes.