Landing site positioning and descent trajectory reconstruction of Tianwen-1 on Mars

Tianwen-1 (TW-1) is the first Chinese interplanetary mission to have accomplished orbiting, landing, and patrolling in a single exploration of Mars. After safe landing, it is essential to reconstruct the descent trajectory and determine the landing site of the lander. For this purpose, we processed descent images of the TW-1 optical obstacle-avoidance sensor (OOAS) and digital orthophoto map (DOM) of the landing area using our proposed hybrid-matching method, in which the landing process is divided into two parts. In the first, crater matching is used to obtain the geometric transformations between the OOAS images and DOM to calculate the position of the lander. In the second, feature matching is applied to compute the position of the lander. We calculated the landing site of TW-1 to be 109.9259° E, 25.0659° N with a positional accuracy of 1.56 m and reconstructed the landing trajectory with a horizontal root mean squared error of 1.79 m. These results will facilitate the analyses of the obstacle-avoidance system and optimize the control strategy in the follow-up planetary-exploration missions.

Trajectory Planning for Emergency Landing of VTOL Fixed-Wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

In recent years, inspired by technological progress and the outstanding performance of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in several local wars, the UAV industry has witnessed explosive development, widely used in communication relay, logistics, surveying and mapping, patrol, surveillance, and other fields. Vertical Take-Off and Landing fixed-wing UAV has both the advantages of vertical take-off and landing of rotorcraft and the advantages of long endurance of fixed-wing UAV, which broadened its application field and is the most popular UAV at present. Recently, fixed-wing UAV failure analysis highlights that cruise engine shutdown is the most common reason for emergency landing, which is also a governing factor for Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) fixed-wing UAV failures. Nevertheless, the emergency landing trajectory of the latter UAV type after engine shutdown is different from that of the conventional fixed-wing UAVs due to the VTOL power system. Hence, spurred by the requirement of a safe emergency landing trajectory for VTOL fixed-wing UAVs, this paper develops an architecture capable of safe emergency landing for such platforms. The suggested method develops a particle dynamics model of the VTOL UAV and analyzes its aerodynamic characteristics utilizing Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) results. The UAV’s trajectory is divided into three parts for enhanced planning. For the guidance stage, the initial position and heading angle are arbitrary. Hence, the Dubins shortest cross-range and the fastest descent trajectory are adopted to steer the UAV above the landing window quickly. The spiral stage comprises a conical and cylindrical part combined with a spiral descent trajectory of variable radius for energy management and landing course alignment. Given the limited energy storage of VTOL power systems, the landing stage exploits an optimal control trajectory problem solved by a Gaussian pseudospectral method, involving trajectory conventional landing planning, unpowered landing, distance optimal landing, and wind-resistant landing. All trajectories meet the dynamics constraints, terminal constraints, and sliding performance constraints and cover both 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional trajectories. A large number of simulation experiments demonstrate that the proposed trajectories manage broad applicability and strong feasibility for VTOL fixed-wing UAVs.

Parametric Calculations of the Aerodynamics of a Descent Vehicle

We present the methodology and results of parametric aerodynamic studies of vehicles descending into the planet’s atmosphere. The proposed computational approach might serve as the basis for solving a number of problems such as predicting and optimizing the descent trajectory of the vehicle, the search for a rational aerodynamic layout of the vehicle, i.e., tasks requiring massive parametric calculations. The systematization of such calculations is the first step towards the creation of a specialized database that includes sets of input and output data (flight speed, angles of attack, drag and lift coefficients, aerodynamic pitching moment, etc.) and the corresponding three-dimensional fields of gas-dynamic quantities together with computational meshes of various granularity and parameters of the computational model. Additional information to each element of the database might be a set of variables, parameterizing the geometry of the vehicle, experimental data, etc. The probability of forming the information content of such a data-base using modern supercomputer systems is shown. The capabilities of the domestic supercomputer aerodynamic code NOISEtte are demonstrated in the field of multiparametric three-dimensional calculations of descent vehicles based on the numerical solution of the Navier --- Stokes equations on three-dimensional unstructured meshes

Analysis Of Aircraft Control Input To Produce 3D Continuous Descent Approach (CDA) Trajectory With PY-FME

One of proposed solutions to decrease the fuel consumption of a flight is by optimizing descent trajectory using Continuous Descent Approach (CDA). The focus of this research is to analyze the aircraft inputs used in CDA with several types of trajectories (straight and turning) in 3D (Three Dimensional). The CDA concept used is based on Time and Energy Managed Operation concept where the use of idle thrust is the key point. The research will also analyze the fuel consumption of aircraft in CDA trajectory and compare it with conventional descent trajectory. The methodology on this research is simulation using a Python programming module called Py-FME with Cessna-172 aircraft data. The result concluded that thrust and elevator input have significant effect on aircraft controls to achieved CDA. The research also found that CDA could reduce the fuel consumption by 67.6%.

Interaction of an electromagnetic wave with a plane-layered medium

For protection from high-temperature aerodynamic heating, the on-board antennas of reentry spacecraft are covered with heatresistant radio-transparent thermal protection. Aerodynamic heating, in addition to the actual heating of the antenna thermal protection up to melting, causes the formation of a plasma formation covering the antenna. Thus, the antenna emits media through a multilayer medium: solid heat shield, melt heat shield, plasma. The effect of the multi-layer environment covering the antenna often leads to the loss of radio communications on the descent trajectory. The assessment of the presence of radio communication is possible only on the basis of the results of the study of the interaction of an electromagnetic wave with a multilayer dielectric medium. The work investigates the radiation of a plane wave through a multilayer dielectric medium. Expressions are obtained for the complex transmission and reflection coefficients of a three-layer medium, one of the layers of which is a plasma formation. The developed analytical relationships characterizing the interaction of an electromagnetic wave with a multilayer dielectric medium make it possible to determine the characteristics of the board-to-ground communication channel and the presence or absence of radio communication on the descent trajectory.

Investigation of the Ballistic Descent Mode for a Maneuverable Lander to the Venus Surface

At present, various projects to continue fundamental investigations of Venus are considered in Russia and abroad. It means that the issue of developing a landing module to reach the surface of the planet becomes topical, as the module might provide access to the regions most attractive in terms of research. We propose to use a landing module of the lifting body type, which, as compared to a ballistic class module, is not unacceptably complicated in terms of design and at the same time features a lift-to-drag ratio adequate for solving manoeuvring problems arising in the process of descent into the Venusian atmosphere to reach the target landing area. We consider potential descent trajectories available to a landing module of this type, including the possibility of performing a maximum lateral manoeuvre; we took into consideration its long-period trajectories characterised by multiple re-entries into the dense atmosphere and compared these trajectories to the descent trajectory of a conventional ballistic class landing module. We show that using a manoeuvrable craft expands the selection of potential landing regions, as well as reduces loads and broadens the scope of scientific problems to be solved and studies to be undertaken

DESCENT TRAJECTORY MODELLING FOR THE LANDING SYSTEM PROTOTYPE

This paper gives another view on a method used for aircraft approach and landing phase of flight that enables replacement of standard glideslope. Proposed Landing System is based on Terrain Reference Navigation (TRN) using own created terrain elevation database, based on Radar Altimeter (RA) measurements compared to the overflown terrain. Simulations were performed on a chosen airport (KSC – Košice Airport) and aircraft (Boeing 737-800), where descend procedures was designed based on real airline data in compliance with Initial 4D Trajectory (i4D). Descend trajectory was modelled with EUROCONTROL Base of Aircraft DAta (BADA) performance model as a Continuous Descent Approach (CDA) from proposed merging point to the KSC RunWaY (RWY) threshold. This method was proposed to enhance pilot situational awareness in situations when standard Instrument Landing System (ILS) information could be lost or misleading and without the need of any ground station for successful navigation and guidance to the RWY threshold. Landing System prototype flight test were performed on full mission flight simulator.