Flight testing of terrain-relative navigation and large-divert guidance on a VTVL rocket

Abstract

Since 2011, the Autonomous Descent and Ascent Powered-Flight Testbed (ADAPT) has been used to demonstrate advanced descent and landing technologies onboard the Masten Space Systems (MSS) Xombie vertical-takeoff, vertical-landing suborbital rocket. The current instantiation of ADAPT is a stand-alone payload comprising sensing and avionics for terrain-relative navigation and fuel-optimal onboard planning of large divert trajectories, thus providing complete pin-point landing capabilities needed for planetary landers. To this end, ADAPT combines two technologies developed at JPL, the Lander Vision System (LVS), and the Guidance for Fuel Optimal Large Diverts (G-FOLD) software. This paper describes the integration and testing of LVS and G-FOLD in the ADAPT payload, culminating in two successful free flight demonstrations on the Xombie vehicle conducted in December 2014. * Work carried out while employed at JPL

Open-Loop Flight Testing of COBALT Navigation and Sensor Technologies for Precise Soft Landing

“…Additionally, the flight profile was designed to maximize the timeline for collecting and blending NDL and LVS measurements within the navigation filter. The profile of the finalized COBALT ConOps is similar to the ADAPT ConOps, 16 with similar velocity but much higher altitude, which is enabled by the Xodiac vehicle performance capabilities. The COBALT altitude and velocity are also roughly double what was attained for ALHAT testing onboard the Morpheus vehicle.…”

“…The sensor assembly attaches to the side of the payload frame and consists of the NDL optical head, the LVS camera, and an LN-200 Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) mounted inside of a stiffened structure, which maintains the relative sensor alignments critical for COBALT precision navigation. The COBALT hardware configuration leverages components from the prior ADAPT project, 16 as well as the SURROGATE 18 and RoboSimian 19 mobile robot programs. The payload volume is 0.127 m 3 and mass is 44.3 kg.…”

“…10,11 The technologies within COBALT are continuing development initiated within prior agency projects, such as the the NASA multi-center ALHAT (Autonomous precision Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology) project 12−15 and the JPL ADAPT (Autonomous Descent and Ascent Powered-Flight Testbed) project. 16,17 COBALT is also leveraging ongoing agency efforts toward infusion of LVS onto the Mars 2020 mission.…”

Adaptive generalized ZEM-ZEV feedback guidance for planetary landing via a deep reinforcement learning approach

“…Much effort has been placed in transforming a fuel-optimal constrained landing problem in a convex optimization problem that can guarantee finding the global optimal solution in a polynomial time [7,8]. Such approach yielded the G-FOLD algorithm [10] which has been recently tested in real landing systems. Importantly, the convexification methodology has been recently applied to other aerospace guidance problems.…”

COBALT: Development of a Platform to Flight Test Lander GN&C Technologies on Suborbital Rockets

“…The COBALT Project was initiated in 2016 to continue the development, maturation and terrestrial flight testing of NASA precision-landing Guidance, Navigation and Control (GN&C) technologies. 1 The project is leveraging technologies and capabilities that have been in work for more than a decade across the agency through prior projects such as ALHAT (Autonomous precision Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology) 2−7 and ADAPT (Autonomous Descent and Ascent Powered-Flight Testbed), 8,9 as well as through current projects developing the JPL Lander Vision System (LVS) 10−12 (to be infused onto the Mars 2020 mission) and the LaRC Navigation Doppler Lidar (NDL). 13−16 COBALT is developing a new generation of NDL, which provides ultra-precise LOS velocity plus range measurements, along with a terrestrial test platform that integrates the NDL and LVS into a self-contained payload for flight testing.…”