Plume Impingement Studies in Space Environments for NASA Deep Space Logistics

NASA’s Artemis program is preparing to return Americans to the moon, in preparation for future deep space missions to Mars and beyond. The Lunar Gateway – a space station to be placed in orbit around the moon – serves as a critical component of the Artemis program, and will be the launchpad for future astronauts to visit the lunar surface and for humanity to learn how to live in a deep space environment. Much like the ISS, during operations and visiting vehicles approaches, the Lunar Gateway structures will be impinged upon from various plume sources: reaction control system rocket engine plumes, wastewater venting plumes, and plasma plumes from electric thrusters for station keeping. This presentation will describe the engineering challenges associated with each of these plume impingement scenarios and will detail the physical models and simulation approaches to predict the thermomechanical loading, contamination accretion, and erosion of station components due to plume impingement in space environments.