GUIDANCE CONTROL ENTRY TECHNOLOGY FOR MARS PRECISION LANDING - EXPRO+

Objective: To develop and assess Mars guided entry and control algorithms for the entry and descent phases, including smart parachute or retro-propulsion triggering, and implement them as on-board software.Description: Entry, descent, and landing (EDL) of Mars missions are critical for ensuring the successful deployment of precision landers for human and robotic exploration. In particular, the entry and descent phases involve complex aero/thermodynamics which require precise guidance and control to achieve the proper conditions for deploying parachutes or for activating supersonic retro-propulsion. In fact, most of the dispersions occur in these phases, and while various approaches for guided-entry algorithms (reference path tracking, predictor-corrector methods, and model-basedtechniques) offer different advantages, all of these come at the expense of many challenges and trade-offs. This activity aims to trade-off different approaches for the design of Mars guided entry and control algorithms, in combination with smart parachute and/orsupersonic retro-propulsion triggering (when applicable), to reduce the dispersions that shall be removed by the landing phase. By assessing their performance through high fidelity Model-in-the-loop (MIL) simulations, the most effective algorithms can be identifiedand considered for numerically efficient and robust implementation as on-board guidance software. The added value includes improvedlanding precision, enhanced safety, and optimized entry and descent performance, which are all essential for the success of future Mars missions. The performance of the developed algorithms will be evaluated via high-fidelity dynamical simulations, while portability to flight processors will be assessed through profiling of the developed guidance control algorithms. This activity encompasses the following tasks: - Consolidation/review of the proofs-of-concept and state-of-the-art of guided entry. - Definition of requirements, operational scenarios, use-cases, and preliminary validation and verification (VV) plan. - Detailed development of guidance and control algorithms with focus on performance, and optimization for embeddability. - Implementation and performance assessment ofalgorithms in an End-to-End Mars landing EDL simulator. - VV campaign of the proposed solutions and algorithms. - Assessment of computational performance on a space-graded processor through profiling. - Study synthesis, and recommendations for a technology roadmap to increase TRL.