Development and Validation of SACRAM: A Swiss Approach to the Computational Response of an Ablative Material

Future space exploration missions foresee high-speed entries into planetary atmospheres. The space vehicle is exposed to extreme thermal conditions and requires an appropriate thermal protection system (TPS). A complete set of TPS material properties is not available in open literature. The inter-code comparison exercise proposed by the AF/SNL/NASA Ablation Workshop gives a baseline platform for ablation code calibration, with a complete set of material and gas properties.