Numerical Simulation of the Flow Field Around a Sounding Rocket for the PMWE Project

Abstract Atmospheric in-situ measurements with sounding rockets provide high spatial resolution, but face aerodynamic influences. Correction factors from Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) are employed to counter disturbances in the atomic oxygen measurements within the PMWE project. For the first time, the resolution of the simulation mesh resolves the sensor geometry and the correction factor is calculated solely from the number density of atomic oxygen. Correction factors vary from 2 (110 km) to 3 (85 km) and are about 80 % of total density correction due to separation effects. They are influenced mainly by free molecular effects and do not depend on the atomic oxygen inflow number density.