The Mars Pathfinder navigation system

Kallemeyn, P. H.; Spencer, David A.; Helfrich, C. E.

doi:10.2514/6.1996-3656

Cited by 4 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 3 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The success of Pathfinder navigation has provided valuable in-flight validation of this enhanced filter configuration, with its associated precision ranging technique. 1,2,5,6 The filter configuration for the OD solutions selected for the final design each of the 4 TCMs is summarized in Table 1. In general, this proved remarkably similar to the p r elaunch planned configuration.…”

Section: Orbit Determination Filter Configurationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In general, this proved remarkably similar to the p r elaunch planned configuration. 2 The two major changes over the course of the mission were the set of solar pressure parameters and data biases. OD runs for TCMs 1 and 2 used earlier solar pressure models having fewer components; area scale factors and reflectance coefficients for each component were estimated.…”

Section: Orbit Determination Filter Configurationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Two of these involved targeting the spacecraft for safe atmospheric entry from the interplanetary trajectory and landing at the desired location on the surface. 1,2 The t h i r d requirement was a limit on the total DV that could be expended for trajectory correction maneuvers (TCMs) over the course of the mission. A previous paper 2 described the navigation system designed to meet these requirements and presented pre-launch analyses of system performance.…”

Section: Introduction and Mission Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1,2 The t h i r d requirement was a limit on the total DV that could be expended for trajectory correction maneuvers (TCMs) over the course of the mission. A previous paper 2 described the navigation system designed to meet these requirements and presented pre-launch analyses of system performance. This paper documents actual navigation performance for the mission.…”

Section: Introduction and Mission Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Navigation Flight Operations for Mars Pathfinder

Robin

Pieter

David

et al. 1999

Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Orbit Determination Filter Configurationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Orbit Determination Filter Configurationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introduction and Mission Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introduction and Mission Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Navigation Flight Operations for Mars Pathfinder

Robin

Pieter

David

et al. 1999

Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…This program has been used previously in the development of the Mars Pathnder entry, descent, and landing (EDL) strategy [23,24]. Six-DOF POST is also being used by the Pathnder EDL operations team [25,26]. In the present study, POST is used to numerically integrate the 6-DOF equations of motion from a given entry state to surface impact.…”

Section: Atmospheric Flight Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mars Microprobe entry analysis

Braun

Mitcheltree²,

Cheatwood

1997

1997 IEEE Aerospace Conference

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract{The Mars Microprobe mission will provide the rst opportunity for subsurface measurements, including water detection, near the south pole of Mars. In this paper, performance of the Microprobe aeroshell design is evaluated through development of a six-degreeof-freedom (6-DOF) aerodynamic database and ight dynamics simulation. Numerous mission uncertainties are quantied and a Monte-Carlo analysis is performed to statistically assess mission performance. Results from this 6-DOF Monte-Carlo simulation demonstrate that, in a majority of the cases (approximately 2{), the penetrator impact conditions are within current design tolerances. Several trajectories are identied in which the current set of impact requirements are not satised. From these cases, critical design parameters are highlighted and additional system requirements are suggested. In particular, a relatively large angle-of-attack range near peak heating is identied.

show abstract

Results of the Mars Pathfinder atmospheric structure investigation

Magalhães¹,

Schofield²,

Seiff³

1999

J. Geophys. Res.

148

104

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We report on a thorough analysis of the Mars Pathfinder atmospheric structure investigation (ASI) accelerometer data spanning the altitude range 161–8.9 km. Entry, descent, and landing occurred within 850 km of the Viking 1 lander and somewhat later in northern summer. The early morning entry (0300 hours) provided the first opportunity to study Mars' nighttime atmospheric structure; the close proximity to the Viking 1 site has permitted a search for changes in atmospheric structure during the 21 years between the landings. Our results confirm and refine the major features of the atmospheric structure discovered in the initial analysis of the ASI results reported by Schofield et al. [1997]. The current analysis has yielded a much better definition of the temperature structure above 90 km altitude. Pathfinder measured a thermospheric peak temperature of 153°K at 134 km, which is 30°K colder than the value found by Viking 1. Between 110 and 88 km, Pathfinder found a broad, nearly isothermal plateau at 127°K, which correlates very well with a similar structure evident in Viking 1 data at the same pressures, although the Pathfinder layer is 25°K colder. At levels above 88 km, wavelike oscillations with a wavelength ∼5 km and amplitudes of 2–3°K are evident, possibly reflecting gravity or planetary wave activity. Between 90 and 60 km the average temperature is 20–30°K cooler than Viking 1 values. Large‐amplitude (10–20°K) long‐wavelength (20–40 km) oscillations, which show a remarkable correspondence to equivalent structures found in the Viking 1 profile at the same pressures, occur in this region and are likely due to a diurnal tidal mode. Between 85 and 77 km a minimum of one oscillation results in temperatures up to 7°K below the saturation temperature of CO2, well outside the uncertainties in the measurements and the vapor pressure curve and comparable to observed supersaturations of water in Earth's mesosphere. Between 55 and 16 km, temperatures are close to or warmer than Viking 1 values; superposed long‐wavelength oscillations correspond well with similar structures observed by Viking 1. Between 16 and 9.9 km the temperature profile shows an unexpected strong thermal inversion, which may reflect radiative cooling due to a water cloud. At the base of the inversion, temperatures begin to increase abruptly until the last measurement at 8.9 km. The Viking‐like temperatures in the lower atmosphere are consistent with the Viking‐like dust optical depths observed by the Mars Pathfinder imager. The cool temperatures in the middle and upper atmosphere may be indicative of significant nighttime cooling at these levels, although other interpretations are possible.

show abstract

The Mars Pathfinder navigation system

Cited by 4 publications

References 3 publications

Navigation Flight Operations for Mars Pathfinder

Navigation Flight Operations for Mars Pathfinder

Mars Microprobe entry analysis

Results of the Mars Pathfinder atmospheric structure investigation

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About