Lyne AST 96-32224 This Small Grant for Exploratory Research (SGER) supports the theoretical investigation of the break-up of meteoroids upon entry into the terrestrial atmosphere. The work will improve on several of the simplifying assumptions made in the past in atmospheric entry physics, such as material ablation and the associated energy transfers; the effects of shock layer shapes, densities, and pressures; the problems that arise from hyper velocities (i.e., velocities in excess of about 10 km/sec); and the problem of mechanical bolide fragmentation. The Principal Investigator has unique practical qualifications for this research. He has been a test engineer at the hypersonic wind tunnels of the Air Force's Arnold Engineering Development Center (1984-85) and he has worked on atmospheric entry of manned spacecraft on Earth and Mars at NASA's Ames Research Center (1992). For the past two years, he has redirected his practical experience to the theoretical and computational investigations of terrestrial meteor entries.
