Research on the infrared radiation characteristics of the tail flame of hypersonic aircraft and the detection range of space-based infrared warning satellites

In recent years, hypersonic aircraft have played an increasingly important role in modern battlefields, and detecting and warning hypersonic aircraft has become a research hotspot. In order to study and verify the effective detection range of space-based infrared satellite warning systems for hypersonic aircraft, we established an approximate equivalent model of the X-51A tail flame, calculated the infrared radiation characteristics in two atmospheric infrared window bands, and drew radiation intensity distribution maps of the tail flame in different directions in three-dimensional space. The parameters of GEO-1, the first geostationary orbit satellite of the SBIRS, were obtained through research. The detection distance of this system was calculated, and its detection and early warning capabilities for hypersonic aircraft were analyzed. The simulation results show that the radiation level of the X-51A tail flame calculated based on the model in this article is basically consistent with the literature, and the tail flame radiation reaches its maximum at an angle of 55° to the axial direction. The maximum detection range of the space-based infrared warning satellite was calculated to be around 10⁷ - 10⁸m, which is consistent with the actual situation and verifies its ability to effectively detect targets in theory.