Computation of the Survivability of Spacecraft Fuel Tanks after Orbital Decay

The present paper takes a look at a special problem occurring during the re-entry of a spacecraft with on-board tanks after an orbital period. The re-entry of a fuel tank is analysed in some detail, which resembles a "real" tank which was in orbit and going to re-enter. A parametric study is performed for the re-entry to analyse whether the tank survives the re-entry intact (with content) or not.