COBALT: Development of a Platform to Flight Test Lander GNC Technologies on Suborbital Rockets

摘要

The NASA COBALT Project (Cooperative Blending of Autonomous Landing Technologies) is developing and integrating new precision-landing Guidance, Navigation and Control (GN&C) technologies, along with developing a terrestrial flight-test platform for Technology Readiness Level (TRL) maturation. The current technologies include a third-generation Navigation Doppler Lidar (NDL) sensor for ultra-precise velocity and Line-Of-Site (LOS) range measurements, and the Lander Vision System (LVS) that provides passive-optical Terrain Relative Navigation (TRN) estimates of map-relative position. The COBALT platform is self contained and includes the NDL and LVS sensors, blending filter, a custom compute element, power unit, and communication system. The platform incorporates a structural frame that has been designed to integrate with the payload frame onboard the new Masten Xodiac vertical take-off, vertical landing (VTVL) terrestrial rocket vehicle. Ground integration and testing is underway, and terrestrial flight testing onboard Xodiac is planned for 2017 with two flight campaigns: one open-loop and one closed-loop.