Methodological Study on Fluid-Structure Interaction Dynamics of Spacecraft in Martian Rarefied Atmosphere Aerobraking

During aerobraking, spacecraft deploy large flexible solar arrays to obtain enough aerodynamic drag. In the rarefied Martian atmosphere, rapidly varying dynamic pressure causes low-frequency elastic vibrations of these appendages, leading to coupled translation-rotation-vibration fluid-structure interaction (FSI) that affects both aerodynamic characteristics and attitude stability. Traditional high precision methods such as DSMC are difficult to apply to long-duration simulations owing to their high computational cost. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a one-way FSI framework, which conbines a cross-regime panel method for aerodynamic calculation with a reduced-order multibody dynamic model. The simulation results show that the framework can reduce the computational burden while retaining the main physical characteristics required for the analysis. The aeroelastic response of a representative spacecraft configuration is analyzed, and the results can support configuration design, aerobraking corridor constraints, and control system development.