Mars Science Laboratory Entry Descent and Landing System Verification and Validation Program

Mitcheltree, Robert A.; Steltzner, Adam; Chen, A.; SanMartin, M.; Rivellini, Tommaso P.

doi:10.1109/aero.2006.1655799

Cited by 11 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…As [4] pointedly stated, "Validation is not simply the matter of assuring the system functions in the associated environments. The function of this system is its interaction with the atmosphere and surface environments."…”

Section: Limitations Of the Traditional Vandv Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Verification and Validation of the Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity Rover Entry, Descent, and Landing System

Kornfeld

Prakash

Devereaux

et al. 2014

Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets

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the Curiosity rover successfully touched down on the Martian surface setting off the most ambitious surface exploration of this planetary body. Preceding this significant step were years of design, development, and testing of the Curiosity Entry, Descent, and Landing system to prepare for the most complex landing endeavor ever attempted at Mars. To address the numerous challenges, the approach and implementation of the overall Entry, Descent, and Landing verification and validation program relied on its decomposition into three distinct domains: flight dynamics, flight system and subsystem verification and validation. The test and analysis scope, the venues, and the processes utilized were tailored to each of these domains, and are discussed in greater detail. The overall lessons learned and conclusions described herein can serve as a pathfinder for the Entry, Descent, and Landing system testing approach and implementation of future Mars landed missions.

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Section: Limitations Of the Traditional Vandv Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Verification and Validation of the Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity Rover Entry, Descent, and Landing System

Kornfeld

Prakash

Devereaux

et al. 2014

Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets

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“…These sites have previously been inaccessible due to limitations in the precision and capability of the Entry Descent and Landing (EDL) system/phase of the Mars Exploration Rover, Phoenix, and Mars Pathfinder missions 2 . The EDL phase of MSL is uniquely equipped, however, to meet these landing site challenges with a lifting-body trajectory from hypersonic entry to parachute deploy, active RCS control throughout the EDL sequence, a supersonic parachute, propulsive descent, and a tethered touchdown maneuver 3 , yielding an error ellipse of 10 km from the designated surface target 4,5 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Findings from the Supersonic Qualification Program of the Mars Science Laboratory Parachute System

Sengupta

Steltzner

Witkowski

et al. 2009

20th AIAA Aerodynamic Decelerator Systems Technology Conference and Seminar

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In 2012, the Mars Science Laboratory Mission (MSL) will deploy NASA's largest extra-terrestrial parachute, a technology integral to the safe landing of its advanced robotic explorer on the surface. The supersonic parachute system is a mortar deployed 21.5 m disk-gap-band (DGB) parachute, identical in geometric scaling to the Viking era DGB parachutes of the 1970's. The MSL parachute deployment conditions are Mach 2.3 at a dynamic pressure of 750 Pa. The Viking Balloon Launched Decelerator Test (BLDT) successfully demonstrated a maximum of 700 Pa at Mach 2.2 for a 16.1 m DGB parachute in its AV4 flight. All previous Mars deployments have derived their supersonic qualification from the Viking BLDT test series, preventing the need for full scale high altitude supersonic testing. The qualification programs for Mars Pathfinder, Mars Exploration Rover, and Phoenix Scout Missions were all limited to subsonic structural qualification, with supersonic performance and survivability bounded by the BLDT qualification. The MSL parachute, at the edge of the supersonic heritage deployment space and 33% larger than the Viking parachute, accepts a certain degree of risk without addressing the supersonic environment in which it will deploy. In addition, MSL will spend up to 10 seconds above Mach 1.5, an aerodynamic regime that is associated with a known parachute instability characterized by significant canopy projected area fluctuation and dynamic drag variation. This aerodynamic instability, referred to as "area oscillations" by the parachute community has drag performance, inflation stability, and structural implications, introducing risk to mission success if not quantified for the MSL parachute system. To minimize this risk and as an alternative to a prohibitively expensive high altitude test program, a multi-phase qualification program using computation simulation validated by subscale test was developed and implemented for MSL. The first phase consisted of 2% of fullscale supersonic wind tunnel testing of a rigid DGB parachute with entry-vehicle to validate two high fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools. The computer codes utilized Large Eddy Simulation and Detached Eddy Simulation numerical approaches to accurately capture the turbulent wake of the entry vehicle and its coupling to the parachute bow-shock. The second phase was the development of fluid structure interaction (FSI) computational tools to predict parachute response to the supersonic flow field. The FSI development included the integration of the CFD from the first phase with a finite element structural model of the parachute membrane and cable elements. In this phase, a 4% of full-scale supersonic flexible parachute test program was conducted to provide validation data to the FSI code and an empirical dataset of the MSL parachute in a flight-like environment. The final phase is FSI simulations of the full-scale MSL parachute in a Mars type deployment. Findings from this program will be presented in terms of code development and validation, empirica...

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“…These sites have previously been inaccessible due to limitations in the precision and capability of the entry, descent, and landing (EDL) system/phase of the Mars Exploration Rover, Phoenix, and Pathfinder missions [2]. The EDL phase of MSL is uniquely equipped, however, to meet these landing site challenges with a lifting-body trajectory from hypersonic entry to parachute deploy, active reaction control system control throughout the EDL sequence, supersonic parachute, propulsive descent, and tethered touchdown maneuver [3], yielding an error ellipse of 10 km from the designated surface target [4,5].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Supersonic Performance of Disk-Gap-Band Parachutes Constrained to a 0-Degree Trim Angle

Sengupta

Kelsch²,

Roeder³

et al. 2009

Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets

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Supersonic wind-tunnel tests of 0.813 m disk-gap-band parachutes were conducted in a 10 10 ft cross section of a closed-loop wind tunnel. Four-percent-scale parachutes were attached to a 4%-scale Mars Science Laboratory (Viking-type) entry vehicle to simulate the free-flight configuration. The parachutes were tested from Mach 2 to 2.5 over a Reynolds number Re range of 2 10 5 to 1:3 10 6 , representative of the Mars flight deployment envelope. A constrained parachute configuration was investigated to quantify the effect of parachute trim angle with respect to alignment with the entry-vehicle wake. In the constrained configuration, the parachutes were supported at the vent, using a rod that restricted parachute translation along a single axis. This was investigated for fixed trim angles of 0 and 10 degrees from the velocity vector. In the unconstrained configuration, the parachute was permitted to translate as well as trim and cone, in a manner similar to free flight. Nonintrusive test diagnostics were selected. An in-line load cell provided measurement of unsteady and mean parachute normal force. High-speed shadowgraph video of the upstream parachute flowfield was used to capture bow-shock motion and standoff distance. Stereo particle image velocimetry of the flowfield upstream of the parachute provided spatially resolved measurements of all three velocity components. Multiple high-speed-video views were used to document the supersonic inflation, parachute trim angle, projected area, and frequency of area oscillations. In addition, reflective targets placed in the interior of the canopy enabled photogrammetric reconstruction of the canopy-fabric motion (in both time and space) from the high-speedvideo data. Nomenclatureor constructed diameter D p = projected diameter d = entry-vehicle diameter F D = axial drag force F D;RMS = axial rms drag M = Mach number m p = parachute mass q = freestream dynamic pressure Re = Reynolds number t = time t FI = time to full inflation t = nondimensional inflation time x=d = nondimensional trailing distance v = freestream velocity p = mass ratio ! AO = area oscillation frequency

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Mars Science Laboratory Entry Descent and Landing System Verification and Validation Program

Cited by 11 publications

References 2 publications

Verification and Validation of the Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity Rover Entry, Descent, and Landing System

Verification and Validation of the Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity Rover Entry, Descent, and Landing System

Findings from the Supersonic Qualification Program of the Mars Science Laboratory Parachute System

Supersonic Performance of Disk-Gap-Band Parachutes Constrained to a 0-Degree Trim Angle

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