NSMB Validation Cases
STARDUST
Stardust flight-case validation of thermo-chemical non-equilibrium, radiation and surface heat transfer.
Original report plot
Wall heat-flux comparison
Original Stardust peak-heating comparison across surface conditions and literature references.
Original plot from the Stardust report, Figure 9.
Physics figures
Supporting flowfield, geometry and experiment images from the report.
Flight hardware
Recovered Stardust capsule, the reference vehicle for the peak-heating validation case.
Capsule geometry
Cross-section of the Stardust capsule showing the PICA heat shield and dimensional setup.
Conclusion
Why the results are comparable
The NSMB thermo-chemical non-equilibrium curves agree with the references near the stagnation region and preserve the same forebody decay. The larger differences away from the nose are physical-model sensitivities—radiation, wall catalyticity, emissivity, viscosity and geometry—not a change in the overall flow pattern.