High-precision landing guidance for Mars: design and system MDO

Landing a spacecraft on Mars with high-precision landing accuracy is a challenging task. One of the most critical phases is the atmospheric entry for which an efficient guidance has to be designed in order to achieve a desired landing accuracy better than 10 km (high precision) or better than 1 km (pinpoint landing). In the frame of the Mars Robotic Exploration Preparation (MREP) Programme of the European Space Agency, a study is currently being carried out to perform an end-to-end optimisation and GNC design for high precision landing on Mars. This paper presents the results of the guidance concepts tradeoffs and design phase and the performances obtained by the candidate guidance solution selected. As a further step, an innovative integrated EDLS/GNC sizing tool (ESAT EDLS/GNC Sizing and Analysis Tool) was designed and implemented to support system trade-offs decisions and optimisation in a multi-disciplinary design environment. The overall system performance obtained confirms that a feasible solution in terms of achieved payload for the required landing accuracy exists and that the entry guidance plays a key role in making the EDL system capable of reaching the target landing site with the desired accuracy.