Autonomous Midcourse Navigation for Lunar Return

摘要

Autonomous navigation systems provide the vehicle with estimates of its states without ground support. This workndevelops an autonomous navigation architecture for lunar transfer using optical sensors and celestial navigation.nMeasurement and error models are developed for two classes of celestial measurements, the elevation of known starsnfrom the Earth’s or moon’s limb, and the apparent radius of the Earth or moon. Monte Carlo methods are used tonsupport the development of measurement error models. The proposed architecture is tested with linear covariancentechniques; navigation errors and trajectory dispersions are obtained to confirm the feasibility of the approach.nThe navigation system is required to provide 0.5 deg flight-path angle accuracy at entry interface for mission safety.nThe simulation results show that the proposed autonomous navigation system meets the reentry safety requirement.