Cooperative Navigation Method for Small Body Landing of Multiple Landers

Abstract

AbstractA cooperative navigation method based on orbiter-assisted measurement is proposed for small body landing missions of multiple micro-landers. First, a cooperative navigation scheme using sensors on both the orbiter and the landers is established. Apart from independent state estimations, the orbiter measures the distance from itself to the surface of the small body through a Doppler radar, and uses the communication link to communicate with the landers, providing the landers with more status information. Then, the small celestial body landing dynamics model is built, and a distributed EKF algorithm is designed for realizing a cooperative state estimation in the landing process. A numerical simulation for small celestial body landing is carried out. The simulation findings suggest that the proposed cooperative navigation method enables the multiple micro-landers with navigation ability and provide high-precision state estimations of the landers during descent.KeywordsCooperative navigationSmall bodySoft landing