A review of research on the vacuum plume

G Cai, L Liu, B He, G Ling, H Weng, W Wang - Aerospace, 2022 - mdpi.com
Chemical and electrical thrusters are generally utilized to control the attitude and orbit of
spacecraft in aerospace. When they are firing, the exhaust expands into the vacuum …

[HTML][HTML] Plume-surface interactions: A review of experimental work

CJ Cuesta, J Davies, K Worrall, A Cammarano… - Acta Astronautica, 2025 - Elsevier
During the final metres of the powered descent of Apollo 11, astronauts Neil Armstrong and
Buzz Aldrin lost sight of the lunar surface. As the retro-rockets fired towards the lunar dust–or …

Design of a subscale, inert gas test for plume-surface interactions in a reduced pressure environment

AM Korzun, CJ Eberhart, J West, P Liever… - AIAA Scitech 2022 …, 2022 - arc.aiaa.org
View Video Presentation: https://doi. org/10.2514/6.2022-1808. vid Rocket plume-surface
interaction is a multi-phase, complex discipline characterized by plume flow physics, erosion …

Fluorescence imaging of plume-surface interaction in large-scale reduced pressure environments

NS Rodrigues, OK Tyrrell, PM Danehy - Physics of Fluids, 2024 - pubs.aip.org
Planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) was applied for the first time in the 20-ft vacuum
chamber at the Marshall Space Flight Center to visualize the plume-surface interaction (PSI) …

Plume-surface interaction physics focused ground test 1: Setup and preliminary results

JS Rubio, M Gorman, MX Diaz-Lopez… - AIAA SCITECH 2022 …, 2022 - arc.aiaa.org
View Video Presentation: https://doi. org/10.2514/6.2022-1809. vid Reliably predicting the
landings on extraterrestrial bodies covered by different types of regolith requires validation …

On the Interaction Between a Flow Instability and Inertial Particles in Supersonic Jet Plume-Surface Interaction

JS Rubio, NS Rodrigues, Y Qi… - AIAA SCITECH 2025 …, 2025 - arc.aiaa.org
Extraterrestrial landings often require spacecraft to deploy supersonic jets directed at dusty
planetary surfaces to ensure controlled descents. This interaction, termed plume-surface …

[HTML][HTML] Tracking plume-regolith interactions in near-vacuum conditions

S Subramanian, A Wilson, C White, K Kontis… - Physics of …, 2024 - pubs.aip.org
An experiment to track and measure the transient phenomenon of plume-liberated regolith
in near-vacuum conditions was performed in a dedicated plume-regolith facility housed at …

Numerical simulation of plume–surface interaction and lunar dust dispersion during lunar landing using four engines

D Gao, G Cai, H Zhang, B Zhang, L Liu, B He - Physics of Fluids, 2024 - pubs.aip.org
As the lander approaches the lunar surface, the engine plumes impinge on the lunar regolith
and entrain lunar dust from the surface. This plume–surface interaction and the resulting …

[HTML][HTML] A survey of research on lunar dust dispersal due to rocket plume impingement

J Kim, J Kim, BJ Lee - Acta Astronautica, 2024 - Elsevier
In recent years, prominent spacefaring nations have redirected their attention towards the
Moon as a potential avenue for economic prospects and as a pivotal waypoint for extended …

Experimental investigation and numerical simulation of intense plume impingement effects from a 10 N bipropellant thruster

C Wu, B He, D Gao, C Chen, Y Chen, B Zhang, G Ling… - Acta Astronautica, 2024 - Elsevier
The intense interaction between thruster plumes and spacecraft surfaces presents
substantial challenges for the advancement of space technologies. The impingement effects …