Mission and Navigation Design for the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory Mission
- Paper number
IAC-08.A3.3.A1
- Author
Dr. Louis A. D'Amario, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, United States
- Year
2008
- Abstract
NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission plans to launch the next mobile science laboratory to Mars in the fall of 2009 using an Atlas V 541 launch vehicle, with arrival at Mars occurring in the summer of 2010. The 850 kg rover carries ten scientific instruments and a sample acquisition, processing, and distribution system. The rover will conduct science operations for at least one Martian year (669 Earth days). A heat shield, parachute, and rocket-powered sky crane are used to land the rover safely on the surface of Mars. The direction of the atmospheric entry vehicle lift vector is controlled by a hypersonic entry guidance algorithm to decrease down-range and cross-range errors to achieve a landing accuracy of 10 km (99.9%) measured radially from the desired landing point. The key challenges for mission design are (1) develop a launch/arrival strategy that provides a 24-day launch period with communications coverage during the Entry, Descent, and Landing phase either from an X-band direct-to-Earth link or from a UHF link to the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, (2) accommodate the EDL coverage requirement for landing latitudes between 30 deg North and 30 deg South, (3) bias the launch vehicle’s interplanetary injection targets to satisfy Mars planetary protection requirements for the Centaur upper stage, and (4) satisfy mission constraints on Earth departure energy, Mars atmospheric entry speed, Earth and MRO antenna angles at entry, and Earth and MRO elevation angles at landing. These mission design requirements and constraints are satisfied with a launch/arrival strategy that employs multiple launch/arrival periods with different arrival dates for different latitude bands for the landing site. The key challenges for navigation design are (1) deliver the atmospheric entry vehicle to the entry interface point (Mars radius of 3522.2 km) with an inertial entry flight path angle error of ±0.20 deg (3σ), (2) ensure a 99% probability of successful targeting to the atmospheric entry point with respect to available cruise stage propellant, and (3) provide knowledge of the entry state vector accurate to ±2.9 km (3σ) in position and ±2.0 m/s (3σ) in velocity (used for initializing the entry guidance algorithm). These navigation requirements are satisfied with a navigation strategy that makes use of five trajectory correction maneuvers during the interplanetary cruise phase to refine the atmospheric entry conditions. Orbit determination is accomplished via ground processing of multiple, complimentary radiometric data types: Doppler, range, and Delta-Differential One-way Ranging, a type of Very Long Baseline Interferometry measurement. Results are presented to demonstrate that all mission design and navigation requirements are met with ample margins.
This research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Copyright 2008 California Institute of Technology. Government sponsorship acknowledged.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-08.A3.3.A1.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
To get the manuscript, please contact IAF Secretariat.