Mars Science Laboratory landed Curiosity in Gale Crater on 5 Aug 2012. Curiosity landed successfully only 2.2 km away from the expected target given the onboard navigation state. Better than the average Apollo capsule splashdown miss distance. A late bank reversal and a suspected tail wind contributed to this slight miss. Entry guidance is derived from the Apollo capsule "final phase" logic and adjusts the range flown during entry by varying the direction of the lift vector (i.e., bank angle). Refinement of the guidance gains and alternative parachute deploy triggers to reduce the ellipse size will be studied for future Mars landing missions.


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    Title :

    Post-Flight EDL Entry Guidance Performance for the 2011 Mars Science Laboratory Mission


    Contributors:
    Mendeck, G. (author) / McGrew, L. (author)

    Conference:

    2013 AAS/AIAA Spaceflight Mechanics ; 2013 ; Kauai, HI, United States


    Publication date :

    2013-02-10


    Type of media :

    Miscellaneous


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English








    Post-Flight EDL Entry Guidance Performance of the 2011 Mars Science Laboratory Mission (AAS 13-419)

    Mendeck, G.F. / McGrew, L.C. / American Astronautical Society et al. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2013