Multibody Modeling and Simulation for Mars Phoenix Entry, Descent, and Landing

A multibody flight simulation for the Phoenix Mars Lander was developed that included high-fidelity six-degreeof-freedom rigid-body models for the parachute and lander system. The simulation predicted attitude and rate histories of all bodies throughout the flight. In so doing, a realistic behavior of the descending parachute/lander system dynamics was simulated that allowed assessment of the Phoenix descent performance and identification of sensitivities for landing. This simulation provided a complete end-to-end capability of modeling the entire entry, descent, and landing sequence for the mission. The simulation was used to predict the parachute and lander aerodynamic angles during entry and the response of the lander system to various wind models and windshears. Several different wind models were analyzed to determine which was most effective at exciting vehicle attitude dynamics. The simulation was used to drive a Monte Carlo analysis that provided a statistical evaluation of the performance capability of the Phoenix landing system.