At the Institute for Space Systems of the University of Stuttgart four plasma wind tunnels are in operation to investigate the chemical behaviour of thermal protection systems of various space vehicles during planet entries. Two of these wind tunnels are equipped with magnetoplasmadynamic plasma generators (MPG), which allow gas flows to be produced on an enthalpy level up to several hundreds of MJ/kg. They are mainly used to investigate the erosion mechanisms of passively cooled, oxidation protected heat shield materials based on C-C or C-SiC as well as the behaviour of ablative materials under thermal and chemical load in the first entry phase of a reusable ballistic or winged spacecraft into the Earth's atmosphere, when velocity and thus the specific enthalpy of the gas are very high. In order to achieve an understanding of the erosion mechanisms of heat shield materials, it is essential to know the properties of the high enthalpy plasma jet. Many parameters can be obtained by intrusive mechanical and electrostatic probe methods, but as a major disadvantage, many of those probes disturb the plasma flow.
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