Proposal of Earth landing demonstration for a planetary lander
- Paper number
IAC-06-D3.2.02
- Author
Mrs. Francine Bonnefond, EADS Astrium, France
- Year
2006
- Abstract
For future planetary missions the final descent and landing phase (vertical descent phase) following atmospheric entry on e.g. Mars or propulsive de-orbiting and braking on e.g. Moon is a critical technology not yet mastered in Europe. Missions like Exomars (the new ESA programme for Martian exploration) or a Moon landing will require larger payloads to be landed more softly and precisely than recent missions. A soft and precise (at least avoiding dangerous obstacles) landing becomes mandatory for such future missions: this way of landing consists of reaching the ground at a very low speed, and is called soft landing. This technique is rather complicated and present some risks. In order to mitigate future development risks, to validate and master the most challenging technical aspects, we propose to develop a demonstration on Earth which could be performed during the year 2008, in order to be ready for the actual missions as foreseen by ESA. The mission objective of this demonstrator named X-Lander is therefore to demonstrate the last thousand of meters before touchdown through the combination of propulsion and GNC systems on Earth. The X-Lander demonstration should be based on two main elements: A transportation and release system such as a balloon, a Tether or a helicopter, or the capability of hovering, and The descent and landing system, the X-Lander. The first system shall provide to the X-Lander the right conditions for the release and the X-Lander should perform the descent and landing phases according to the demonstration needs. The following aspects should be considered: Type of soil to allow landing, Winds on Mars asking for transversal control, No atmosphere on the Moon, while one on Earth and Mars. The present paper proposes a mission scenario with an adequate landing site and provides a preliminary assessment of a concept of X-Lander. The main challenge of the demonstration is to identify the adequate parameters for representativeness: for instance, Thrust-to-weight ratio and Gravity contribution to acceleration.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-06-D3.2.02.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
To get the manuscript, please contact IAF Secretariat.