Simulated Ballistic Range Campaign of the Genesis Sample Return Capsule

Aerodynamic phenomena influencing entry capsule dynamic stability must be accurately represented within Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) modeling and simulation frameworks to ensure mission success. Emerging tools like Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)-Rigid Body Dynamics (RBD) frameworks enable high-fidelity six-degrees-of-freedom (6-DOF) simulations, which provide a rich source of unsteady aerodynamic data that can be used to explore how entry capsule dynamics naturally evolve in free flight. A sampling methodology is presented for CFD-in-the-loop simulated ballistic range campaigns—using a Design of Experiments (DoE) approach—applied to the Genesis Sample Return Capsule (SRC) in the challenging low-supersonic to transonic Mach regime. The complexity of the supersonic turbulent flow around the capsule is captured via Delayed Detached Eddy Simulation (DDES). An extensive dataset of free-flight trajectories with explicitly controlled initial conditions was generated. By applying the same post-processing techniques and data-reduction algorithms used in experimental ballistic range campaigns to the simulated dataset, good agreement with experimental trends was observed, except for discrepancies in the pitch damping moment coefficient, Cmq. Beyond evaluating the consistency between numerical simulations and experiments, this campaign can be leveraged for future testing methods, aiding in dynamic analyses of entry capsules and providing a dataset for advanced modeling approaches.