Two plasma wind tunnels (PWK) have been built up at the Institut fuer Raumfahrtsystem (IRS) of the University of Stuttgart for the simulation of re-entry or entry conditions with high specific enthalpies and low pressures as required for example for the development of modern oxidation protected materials for a thermal protection system. They are equipped with magnetoplasmadynamic plasma sources designed for a power level up to 1 mW and for specific enthalpies ranging from 2 MJ/kg up to more than 150 MJ/kg in order to simulate the first phase of the re-entry where the specific enthalpy is high and the temperature is at its maximum. The stagnation pressure reaches from about 1 mbar up to 100 mbar; the maximum mass flow with air is at the moment about 30 g/s. This paper reports first efforts to characterize an air plasma flow which simulates typical conditions of a winged vehicles reentry into earth atmosphaere. Results of plasma parameter measurements at two cross section are presented and discussed.
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