On August 5, 2012, the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft landed the heaviestpayload on Mars using the largest aeroshell and supersonic parachute everused by a planetary entry mission. Moreover, an innovative Sky Crane landingsystem was utilized to softly and accurately place the science payload on theground near the desired target. The spacecraft recorded inertial measurementunit data and radar altimeter measurements during its descent through the Martianatmosphere and the aeroshell was also instrumented with flush atmosphericdata system sensors that allow for the reconstruction of the vehicle'spressure distribution and freestream atmospheric conditions. This paper showsthe preliminary results of the vehicle's trajectory and atmosphere reconstructionusing a statistical estimation methodology that utilizes an extendedKalman filter. This method has been demonstrated with simulated Mars entrydata in the past, and has the capability of simultaneously estimating the parametersand their uncertainties using the initial state covariance and measurementuncertainties.
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