Electro magnetic wave propagation in the plasma layer of a reentry vehicle

During reentry into the atmosphere, aerospace vehicles are subjected to severe aerothermal heating that causes the surrounding gas to ionize and form a plasma. The analysis of the plasma around the vehicle is useful in developing new strategies and mitigation devices to minimize blackout related issues. Modeling aspects and the simulation results of aerothermal heating, plasma generation and EM wave propagation over a RAMC reentry vehicle are presented. Magnetic window blackout-mitigation scheme is demonstrated.