Heat transfer and equilibrium temperature of a sphere in a supersonic rarefied gas flow

Some results are presented of experimental studies of the equilibrium temperature and heat transfer of a sphere in a supersonic rarefied air flow.The notations D sphere diameter - u, , T,,l, freestream parameters (u is velocity, density, T the thermodynamic temperature,l the molecular mean free path, the viscosity coefficient, the thermal conductivity) - T₀ temperature of the adiabatically stagnated stream - T_e mean equilibrium temperature of the sphere - T_w surface temperature of the cold sphere (T_we) - mean heat transfer coefficient - _e air thermal conductivity at the temperature T_e - P Prandtl number - M Mach number