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Author ORCID Identifier
Date Available
12-17-2025
Year of Publication
2025
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering (MSAeroE)
College
Engineering
Department/School/Program
Mechanical Engineering
Faculty
Alexandre Martin
Faculty
Jonathan Wenk
Abstract
Kentucky Re-entry Universal Payload System (KRUPS) is a small-scale re-entry capsule developed at the University of Kentucky. The KRUPS project began in 2013 with the aspiration of providing an affordable and repeatable method of collecting data on the re-entry environment. Numerically-based methods used to model re-entry require experimental data to validate their predictions. However, re-entry data is not easily obtained. Flight tests of re-entry vehicles require extensive time and resources, including a substantial financial burden. Alternatively, ground testing is not able to accurately and completely replicate the complex re-entry environment. Thus, there is a need for an inexpensive and accessible means of conducting re-entry experiments, and this was the driving motivation behind the creation of KRUPS. Since the project began, numerous suborbital flight tests have been conducted; these tests led to the first hypersonic re-entry from the International Space Station (ISS) in 2021. Following the success of the first Kentucky Re-entry Probe Experiment (KREPE) mission, KREPE-2 seeks to return KRUPS to an overall Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of nine. The success of KREPE-2 will further solidify KRUPS as a reliable method of data collection, instrumentation testing, and validation of newly developed thermal protection systems (TPS).
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2025.624
Funding Information
This work was supported by NASA Kentucky Space Grant Award (no.: 80NSSC20M0047), NASA EPSCoR Award (no.: 80NSSC19M0014), and NASA Award (no.: 80NSSC21K0286).
Recommended Citation
Ford, Kirsten F., "Kentucky Re-entry Universal Payload System (KRUPS): Second Atmospheric Re-entry Flight" (2025). Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical Engineering. 255.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/me_etds/255
