Achieving Precision Landing to a Pre-Selected Landing Site on Mars
- Paper number
IAC-06-C1.P.7.03
- Author
Dr. Jean de Lafontaine, NGC Aerospace Ltd., Canada
- Coauthor
Dr. Aymeric Kron, NGC Aerospace Ltd., Canada
- Coauthor
Mr. David Neveu, NGC Aerospace Ltd., Canada
- Coauthor
Mr. Jean-Francois Hamel, Universite de Sherbrooke, Canada
- Year
2006
- Abstract
In the quest for a better knowledge of our solar system, future planetary exploration missions will be de-signed to acquire samples from planetary regions of high scientific interest and return them to Earth for analysis in laboratories. To meet such mission requirements, the Lander must have the ability to land close to these regions of interest so the efforts in acquiring the samples are within the capabilities of the Lander or its on-board mobile vehicle. For planets with an atmosphere, such as Mars, the large uncertain-ties in the atmosphere (winds, density) and in the vehicle aerodynamic properties lead to large landing dispersions on the surface. The current capabilities of entry systems lead to uncertainty ellipses on the surface of the order of hundreds of kilometers, typically 100 km x 500 km. A number of research programs at NASA and ESA are addressing the development of guided entry, descent and landing systems (EDLS) that will reduce this uncertainty ellipse to a few ten’s of kilometers and eventually to hundred’s of meters. This technology is referred to as precision landing or pin-pointing landing since it aims at landing at pre-selected geographical coordinates, chosen on Earth by scientists. This technology contrasts with the so-called hazard-avoidance technology where landing at a safe site is the priority but this safe site is selected by the Lander during the final descent and could be anywhere in the 100 km x 500 km uncertainty ellipse. This paper will present recent contributions aimed at the improvement of planetary EDLS subjected to atmospheric uncertainties by designing precision-landing techniques that reduce the entry dispersions to the level ten’s of kilometers. Work is on-going to further reduce these uncertainties to achieve pin-pointing landing accuracies of a few ten’s of meters. This paper will address the results so far obtained – and those in preparation – that are applicable to the main three phases of a Mars landing mission: (1) the aerody-namic entry phase, (2) the parachute phase and (3) the propulsive landing phase. The main objective of this paper is to present some of the advanced guidance, navigation and control techniques developed in support to precision-landing missions on Mars as well the tools so far developed to support mission design and analysis.
- Abstract document