Consider Covariance Sigma-Point Filtering Of Inertial Measurement Unit Data For Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Spacecraft State Estimation During Aerobraking Operations
- Paper number
IAC-06-C1.5.07
- Author
Dr. Moriba Jah, Oceanit Laboratories, Inc., United States
- Coauthor
Dr. Michael Lisano, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, United States
- Coauthor
Dr. George Hockney, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, United States
- Year
2006
- Abstract
Aerobraking is an efficient technique for orbit adjustment of planetary spacecraft such as Magellan (Venus), Mars Global Surveyor, and Mars Odyssey. Determination of the vehicle state during the aerobraking phase has conventionally been performed using only radiometric tracking data prior to and following the atmospheric drag pass. This approach is sufficiently accurate and timely to meet current mission operational requirements; however, it is expensive in terms of ground support and leads to delayed results because of the need for post drag pass data. This research presents an updated approach to the estimation of the vehicle state during the atmospheric pass that sequentially incorporates observations from an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and models of the vehicle and environment. The approach, called Inertial Measurements for Aerobraking Navigation (IMAN), has shown to perform at a level comparable to the conventional methods in terms of navigation accuracy and superior to them in terms of availability of the results immediately after completion of the pass. Furthermore, the research shows that IMAN can be used to reliably predict subsequent periapsis times and locations over all aerobraking regimes. IMAN also yields accurate peak dynamic pressure and heating rates, critical for a successful corridor control strategy, comparable to navigation team reconstructed values. This research was previously validated by post-processing Mars Odyssey aerobraking data. The results provided are based upon near real-time processing of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter aerobraking data and provide the first instance of the utilization of the recently developed Consider-Covariance Sigma-Point Filter for the purpose of estimating an actual spacecraft trajectory arc about another planet.
- Abstract document