Numerical Assessment of a Multilayer Thermal Protection System of Inflatable Shields for Aerocapture and Reentry Missions

Inflatable heat shields offer a promising solution for atmospheric entry systems requiring large aerodynamic drag with limited mass and packaging constraints. In lunar-return missions, low-ballistic-coefficient aeroshells enable aerocapture trajectories that dissipate energy at higher altitudes, reducing peak aerodynamic heating and potentially allowing the use of flexible, non-ablative thermal protection systems. In this work, the thermal response of a multilayer F-TPS composed of Nextel AF-62, Sigratherm, and Kapton is evaluated using a Conjugate Heat Transfer approach implemented in the SU2 solver. A radiative wall boundary condition was introduced to account for surface radiation effects. The numerical framework was first calibrated against experimental thermal measurements and then applied to the aerocapture trajectory. Results show that the predicted temperatures remain within the admissible limits of all materials, supporting the feasibility of multilayer flexible TPS concepts for lunar-return aerocapture missions.