Advancing new hazard detection and precision landing technologies to help future space missions achieve successful safe and soft landing are key areas of space research and development, especially for future crew missions. To support this, NASA's Space Technology Mission Agency (STMD) is conducting regular flight tests of a variety of vehicles, helping researchers quickly and quickly push these critical mission systems toward the Moon, Mars and other regions.

“These flight tests directly address NASA’s highest-ranked technology needs or shortages, from advanced guidance algorithms and terrain-related navigation to LIDAR and optical-based hazard detection and mapping,” John M. Carson III, Ph.D., STMD M. Carson III, STMD Precision Integration Manager, Precision Manager for NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Naston, and NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston in Houston in Houston.

Since the beginning of the year, STMD has supported flight testing of four precise landing and hazard detection technologies from many areas including NASA, universities and commercial industries. These cutting-edge solutions have been ridden on down-orbit rocket systems, high-speed jets, helicopters and rocket-powered lander test beds. Here are four precision landing techniques to test four different flying cars in four months.

“By performing these technical tests on Earth in trajectories and velocities related to space flight, we are demonstrating their capabilities and using real data to validate them to transition labs from labs to mission applications,” Dr. Carson said. “This work also tells industry and other partners that these capabilities are ready to go beyond NASA and academia and into the next generation of the Moon and Martian Landes.”

The following NASA-supported flight tests occur between February and May:

Identifying landmarks to calculate accurate navigation solutions is a key feature of Draper Multi-Environment Navigator (DMEN), a vision-based navigation and hazard detection technology designed to improve the safety and accuracy of moon landings.

DMEN collects real-world data on Blue Origin’s new Shepard reusable suborbital rocket system and verifies its algorithms to drive its use when delivering three NASA payloads as part of NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Service (CLPS). On February 4, DMEN was latest in a series of tests supported by NASA’s Flight Opportunity Program, managed by NASA’s NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California.

During the February flight, tested at rocket speed while rising and falling, DMEN scanned the Earth below and identified the landmarks to calculate the accurate navigation solution. The technology reaches a level of accuracy, helping to advance it into terrain-related navigation, a key element in landing on other planets.

Several highly dynamic operations and flight paths enable Psychological Space Navigation Doppler LiDAR (PSNDL) to collect navigation data at various altitudes, velocities and directions during testing.

Psychologically licensed NASA's Navigation Doppler LiDAR technology was developed at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia and created its own small system with improved functionality and component redundancy to make it more robust for space flight. In February, PSNDL and a complete navigation sensor kit were installed on the F/A-18 Hornet aircraft and were tested at NASA Armstrong.

The planes followed various flight paths in a few days, including a large number of Eighth Ring Roads and several highly dynamic actions in California’s Death Valley. During these flights, PSNDL collected navigation data related to the entry and descent of the moon and Mars.

High-speed flight tests demonstrate the accuracy and navigation accuracy of sensors under challenging conditions, helping to prepare technology for robots and astronauts on the moon and Mars. These recent tests complement previous flight opportunity-supported tests to advance earlier versions of its PSNDL prototype.

Researchers at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland have developed a state-of-the-art hazard detection LIDAR (HDL) sensor system to quickly descend from high-speed vehicles to find safe landing locations in challenging locations such as Europa (such as Eupiter's Moons) (one of our Moons), our own Mars, Mars and Mars and Seloty solety solare and planet soluties. HDL scanning lidar generates a three-dimensional digital elevation map in real time, processes about 15 million laser measurements, and draws the terrain of two football fields in just two seconds.

In mid-March, researchers conducted HDL tests on a helicopter at NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida and flew on a lunar-like test field with rocks and craters. HDL collects many scans from several different heights and viewing angles to simulate a series of landing scenarios, resulting in a real-time map. Preliminary reviews of the data show the excellent performance of the HDL system.

HDL is an integral part of NASA's secure and precise landing-integrated functional evolution (splicing) technology suite. Splice drop and landing systems integrate multiple component technologies such as avionics, sensors and algorithms to make landings in areas with difficult to reach with high scientific interest. The HDL team will also continue to test and further improve the sensors to gain future flight opportunities and commercial applications.

San Diego State University provides accurate landing guidance capability for minimum propellant use (SDSU)-activated guidance algorithms are designed to improve the precise landing of autonomous drivers and avoid dangers. In a series of flight tests conducted in April and May, the university’s software incorporated Astrobotic’s Xodiac subbital Rocket-powered lander through hardware developed by Falcon Exodynalics, part of NASA’s Nighttime Precision Landing Challenge for NASA TechLeap Prine.

The SDSU algorithm aims to improve landing capabilities by expanding flexibility and trajectory forming capabilities and improving the efficiency of guidance systems that improve propulsion efficiency. They have the potential to inject human and robotic missions, as well as high-quality missions to Mars.

By conducting frequent flight tests, and by advancing these and other important navigation, precise landing and hazard detection technologies, NASA's Space Technology Mission Agency is prioritizing the provision of safe, successful touchdowns for future space missions in challenging planetary environments.

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Author: Lee Ann Obringer
NASA's Flight Opportunity Program