NAVIGATION FOR THE MARS PREMIER NETLANDER DELIVERY

摘要

A challenging phase of the MARS PREMIER mission is the release of four Netlanders to the Martian soil. From a navigation point of view, this deployment requires a highly accurate Netlander trajectory entry, which is difficult to obtain with traditional Doppler and ranging radio measurements. This paper presents covariance and propulsive maneuver analyses performed to determine the impact on navigation performance of parameters such as: the addition of ΔDOR measurements, tracking data schedule, and maneuver execution errors. Conclusions are drawn for navigation needs and an assessment is made of the robustness of navigation performance for the Netlander deployment phase.