Abstract
Tianwen-1, the first mission of China’s planetary exploration program, accomplished its goals of orbiting, landing, and roving on the Mars. The entry, descent, and landing (EDL) phase directly determines the success of the entire mission, of which the guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) system is crucial. This paper outlines the Tianwen-1 EDL GNC system design by introducing the GNC requirements followed by presenting the GNC system architecture and algorithms to meet such requirements. The actual flight results for the whole EDL phase are also provided in this paper.
Highlights
Mars has atmosphere and surface environment similar to the Earth, making it a prime target for deep space exploration
This paper summarizes the Tianwen-1 EDL GNC design by analyzing the EDL GNC requirements, presenting the GNC modes and GNC hardware configurations, and describing the EDL GNC algorithms
The radar-updated inertial navigation strategy is used for the Tianwen-1 EDL phase, whereas the GNC system relies on the inertial navigation system (INS) only before the heatshield jettison and the radar-derived states are used to correct the INS-derived states once the heatshield is separated, such that accurate altitude and velocity estimates can be provided
Summary
Mars has atmosphere and surface environment similar to the Earth, making it a prime target for deep space exploration. Any mistake may lead to a mission failure The uncertainties such as Mars environments, parachute descent motion, and initial state, the complexity of the EDL process (multistage deceleration, many key events, etc.), and the limited on-board computational ability bring great challenges to the design of EDL GNC system. To meet these challenges, the GNC hardware should have a certain degree of redundancy, and the GNC algorithms should be suitable for on-board implementation, robust to sensor and actuator partial failures, and adaptive to uncertainties. The flight results that have validated the GNC design will be provided
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