WAKE AUGMENTATION BY ADVANCED CONCEPTS

THE FEASIBILITY OF USING WAKE AUGMENTATION/MODIFICATION CONCEPTS FOR DECOYS AND REENTRY VEHICLES WILL BE INVESTIGATED. THE THERMOCHEMICAL CONCEPTS WHICH LEAD TO THE SYNTHESIS, FABRICATION AND EVALUATION OF UNIQUE MATERIALS WHICH ARE CAPABLE OF REDUCING REENTRY VEHICLE SIGNATURES AND OF ENHANCING DECOY SIGNATURES WILL BE EXAMINED. WAKE QUENCHANTS WILL BE CONSIDERED WITH EMPHASIS ON THE CRITICAL PROPERTIESOF ELECTRON AFFINITY AND ELECTRON ATTACHMENT CROSS SECTION, THERMAL STABILITY AND REACTIVITY WITH OTHER ABLATION PRODUCTS AND AIR SPECIES. THE INDIVIDUAL REQUIREMENTS ARE CONSIDERED FOR THE PASSIVE RELEASE AND DISPENSING OF SELECTED QUENCHANTS IN DIFFERENT ALTITUDE REGIMES IN AN EFFORT TO REDUCE RV WAKE RCS (INTENSITY AND LENGTH). THE THERMOCHEMISTRY OF SEEDANTS WHICH GENERATE ELECTRONS THROUGH THE USE OF THERMAL IONIZATION OF ALKALI METALS OR BY CHEMI-IONIZATIION REACTIONS WILL BE EXAMINED AS MEANS OF INCREASING THE WAKE LENGTH OF DECOYS. FLOWFIELD COMPUTATIONS WILL BE PERFORMED BY SAIC TO INVESTIGATE THE WAKE CHARACTERISTICS OF DECOYS WITH EXOTHERMIC REACTION AND EVALUATE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE PROPOSED CONCEPTS IN CRITICAL ALTITUDE REGIMES. PRELIMINARY SCREENING OF THE MOST PROMISING SEEDING AND QUENCHING CONCEPTS AND CANDIDATE MATERIALS WILL BE CARRIED OUT IN A LABORATORY COMBUSTION CHAMBER.