Electron Density Depletion in Reentry Plasma Flows Using Pulsed Electric Fields

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel simulation demonstrating that pulsed electric fields can significantly deplete electron density in reentry plasma flows, reducing communication blackout by enabling low-power, effective signal transmission.

Contribution

First fully-coupled simulation of high-voltage pulsed discharges in high-speed flowfield, showing practical mitigation of reentry communication blackout with low power requirements.

Findings

Electron density depletion reduces signal attenuation from 60% to 4%.

Sheath topology is mainly governed by ion kinetics and ion mobility corrections.

The proposed system can be powered by a lightweight battery, enabling practical deployment.

Abstract

Communication blackout due to the plasma layer creates a critical telemetry gap for re-entry vehicles. To mitigate this, we present the first fully-coupled simulation of high-voltage pulsed discharges interacting with a Mach 24 flowfield using an advanced numerical framework. The results demonstrate that the applied electric field generates a large, non-neutral plasma sheath near the cathode, depleting electron density by several orders of magnitude over a distance commensurate with the height of the shock layer. This depletion window effectively reduces the attenuation of a 4 GHz signal from 60% to 4% with a manageable power requirement of 66 W per cm$^2$ of exposed cathode surface. Feasibility analysis indicates that this system can be powered by a battery pack weighing less than 3 kg for a typical re-entry trajectory, with further mass reductions possible through intermittent transmission. A sensitivity analysis reveals that the sheath topology is governed principally by ion kinetics; specifically, corrections to ion mobility at high reduced electric fields lead to enhanced space-charge shielding and a subsequent contraction of the sheath. Conversely, the sheath structure is largely insensitive to the electron mobility model. Finally, we argue that the present drift-diffusion model likely yields a conservative lower bound for mitigation performance. A kinetic approach accounting for ballistic ion transport and non-local ionization would likely predict thicker sheaths and lower attenuation for equivalent power deposition.