Stagnation region radiative ablation of asteroidal meteoroids in the rosseland approximation

Abstract

The ablation rates of large iron-containing stony meteoroids are calculated at their stagnation point assuming the meteoroid to be spherical in shape. The flow is assumed to be thermo-chemically in equilibrium and inviscid. The Rosseland approximation is used in describing radiative transfer, using the Rosseland mean absorption coefficients determined by the present author previously. The calculation is performed for the range of freestream densities, velocities, and nose radii pertinent to meteoroid entry flights. The calculated ablation rates are smaller than the values calculated by Kosarev et al and Golub et al in 1996, and are only weakly dependent on the flight speed.