As part of NASA’s MUREP Partnership Learning Annual Notification (MPLAN) initiative, researchers at the University of Houston and the NASA MIRO IDEAS² Center are advancing a computational framework to model liquid and gas venting into space environments for missions such as OSAM-1 and Gateway.
Existing analytical approaches struggle to accurately capture the wide range of flow regimes encountered during venting in rarefied space environments. To address this challenge, the UH research team is developing an integrated simulation framework that couples Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) with Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC). The approach uses density-dependent derivative operators to bridge gas–vacuum interface physics across large Knudsen number variations.
This hybrid modeling framework enables improved prediction and optimization of vent parameters such as starting pressure, temperature, and orifice geometry. By providing more accurate simulations of gas release in space, the research aims to reduce mission risk, minimize costly ground testing, and improve hardware development efficiency for future NASA spacecraft requiring controlled gas venting systems.