Effects of Control Power and Guidance Cues on Lunar Lander Handling Qualities

摘要

A piloted simulation was conducted to study handling qualities for a precision lunar landing task from finalnapproach to touchdown. The experiment variables were control power and guidance cues. A dynamics and controlnmodel was derived from Apollo Lunar Module data, and new feedback guidance laws were designed to help the pilotnfollow a reference trajectory. The experiment was conducted on the large motion base Vertical Motion Simulator atntheNASAAmes Research Center. Six pilot astronauts served as evaluation pilots, providing Cooper–Harper ratings,nTask Load Index ratings, and qualitative comments. The piloting task was to fly a final approach profile from 500 ftnaltitude located 1350 ft up range of the designated landing site with a 250 ft lateral offset, and touch down with anposition accuracy of 15 ft. Following guidance cues presented on cockpit displays, the pilots were able to accomplishnthis task for control powers ranging from 100 to 15% of the nominal (Apollo) value. The handling qualities werensatisfactory (Level 1) at nominal control power, and degraded nonlinearly as control power decreased. Withoutnguidance cues, in the limited time available for this experiment, the evaluation pilots were unable to develop a flyingntechnique for the precision landing task with lateral offset approach. This highlights the need for guidance cues innfuture lunar operations that may require precision landing capability.