REENTRY VEHICLE BODY SIGNATURE SIMULATION IN THE ULTRAVIOLET TO INFRARED SPECTRUM

THE PROPOSED PROGRAM WOULD PROVIDE THE AIR FORCE BALLISTIC SYSTEMS DIVISION (BSD) WITH AN ENGINEERING LEVEL SIGNATURE MODELING CAPABILITY FOR VARIOUS TYPES OF REENTRY VEHICLES (RVS) DURING THE MIDCOURSE PHASE. THE PRESENT AERODYNE RESEARCH, INC. (ARI) SPIRITS SIGNATURE MODEL OFFERS THE BASSIS FOR THE MODELING CAPABILITY IN THE ULTRAVIOLET (UV) THROUGH THE INFRARED (IR) SPECTRUM. THE SPIRITS MODEL WILL PROVIDE THE HARDBODY SIGNATURES FOR VARIOUS RVS, E.G., TETHERED RVS, AS WELL AS DECOYS, E.G., BALLOONS, REPLICAS. THE SPIRITS MODEL IS CONSTRUCTED TO INCLUDE SPECTRAL RADIATION EFFECTS FROM AND THROUGH EXHAUST PLUMES AND CAN THEREFORE BE CONFIGURED TO INCLUDE THE MODIFIED SPF/SIRRM INFRARED PLUME RADIATION MODEL CURRENTLY UTILIZED AT BSD AND THE EXTENDED UV/VISIBLE/NEAR IR PLUME RADIATION MODEL TO BE DEVELOPED AT ARI UNDER AN ADDITIONAL PROPOSED EFFORT. THIS WORK WOULD COMPLEMENT A JUST COMPLETED BSD SPONSORED PHASE I SBIR PROJECT AT ARI TO PROVIDE PLUME VISIBLE AND ULTRAVIOLET SIGNATURES FOR THRUSTED, MANEUVERING REENTRY VEHILES AND DECOYS, SINCE PLUME SIGNATURES CAN BE COMPLETELY INTEGRATED INTO SPIRITS HARDBODY IMAGES.