A numerical investigation of the space (0-46km) aero-thermodynamic characteristics of a nose cone model under a state of supersonic flight was performed using commercial software STAR-CCM+ with validated turbulence model and numerical strategy. Then the environment distinctions of the ground high enthalpy wind tunnel and space flight were discussed as follow: (1) To achieve a certain stagnation temperature

the ground high enthalpy wind tunnel environment relies on a coupling effect of supersonic aero-thermodynamics and arc-heating. (2) At the same stagnation temperature condition

a high-temperature flow covers the whole nose cone specimen in the ground high enthalpy wind tunnel case

while in the space flight aero-thermodynamic

a high-temperature area appears just near the stagnation region. (3) At the same stagnation temperature

the stagnation pressure of the space flight is far lower than that in the ground high enthalpy wind tunnel experiment. Numerical simulation results indicate that at the same free-stream Mach number

the stagnation temperature goes down at first and then goes up with the increase of flight altitude

while the stagnation pressure drops all the time; at the same altitude

the stagnation temperature and pressure have an exponential increase with the increasing free-stream Mach number

meanwhile the shock wave moves gradually to the solid wall

and the stagnation region becomes thinner with the increasing free-stream Mach number

but this trend will be not significant when the Mach number is larger than 4.