NASA Dryden Flight Research Center and NASA Johnson Space Center are jointly conducting a phased program to determine the feasibility of the autonomous recovery of a spacecraft using a ram-air parafoil system for the final stages of entry from space to a precision landing. The feasibility is being studied using a flight model of a spacecraft in the generic shape of a flattened biconic that weighs approximately 120 lb and is flown under a commercially available ram-air parafoil. Key components of the vehicle include the global positioning system (GPS) guidance for navigation, a flight control computer, an electronic compass, a yaw rate gyro, and an onboard data recorder. A flight test program is being used to develop and refine the vehicle. The primary flight goal is to demonstrate autonomous flight from an altitude of 3,000 m (10,000 ft) with a lateral offset of 1.6 km (1.0 mi) to a precision soft landing. This paper summarizes the progress to date. Much of the navigation system has been tested, including a heading tracker that was developed using parameter estimation techniques and a complementary filter. The autoland portion of the autopilot is still in development. The feasibility of conducting the flare maneuver without servoactuators was investigated as a means of significantly reducing the servoactuator rate and load requirements.


    Access

    Access via TIB

    Check availability in my library


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Further Development and Flight Test of an Autonomous Precision Landing System Using a Parafoil


    Contributors:
    J. E. Murray (author) / A. G. Sim (author) / D. C. Neufeld (author) / P. K. Rennich (author) / S. R. Norris (author)

    Publication date :

    1994


    Size :

    18 pages


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English





    Further development and flight test of an autonomous precision landing system using a parafoil

    Murray, James E. / Sim, Alex G. / Neufeld, David C. et al. | NTRS | 1994


    Parafoil test vehicle ALEX - Further development and flight test results

    Jann, Thomas / Doherr, Karl-Friedrich / Gockel, Wilhelm | AIAA | 1999


    Parafoil Test Vehicle ALEX - Further Development and Flight Test Results

    Jann, T. / Doherr, K.-F. / Gockel, W. et al. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1999


    Development of Autonomous Flight Systems With Small Parafoil

    Hiraki, Koju / Inoue, Masanobu | AIAA | 2009