meetings - Space Flight Mechanics Committee

The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) launched on an Atlas V 541 from Cape Canaveral in
Florida on November 26th, 2011 and successfully landed inside Gale Crater on August 6th,
2012. After flying more than 550 million km, MSL entered the Martian atmosphere only
~900 m away from the optimal target and landed ~431 s later less than ~2.4 km away from
its target. This paper summarizes in detail the actual trajectory performance in terms of
launch vehicle events and trans-Mars injection accuracy, DSN/USN spacecraft lockup,
trajectory correction maneuver performance, Entry, Descent, and Landing events, and
overall trajectory
9:20 AAS The MSL Entry Controller
13-235 Paul Brugarolas, NASA / Caltech JPL; Alejandro San Martin, NASA / Caltech JPL;
Edward Wong, NASA / Caltech JPL
9:40 Break
The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Entry Descend and Landing (EDL) system delivered
“Curiosity” at Gale crater (Mars) on August 5th, 2012. MSL EDL used an entry Guidance
Navigation and Control (GN&C) system to achieve its landing target objectives. The entry
guidance law guided the vehicle by modulating the lift vector through bank commands. The
navigation filter integrated Descend Inertial Measurement Unit (DIMU) measurements to
estimate position and attitude. The entry controller commanded the propulsive Reaction
Control System (RCS) to achieve 3-axis attitude control. This paper describes the design
and the as-flown performance of the entry controller.
10:05 AAS The Development of the MSL Guidance, Navigation, and Control System for
13-238 Entry, Descent, and Landing
Alejandro San Martin, NASA / Caltech JPL; Steven Lee, NASA / Caltech JPL;
Edward Wong, NASA / Caltech JPL
On August 5, 2012, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission successfully delivered the
Curiosity rover to its intended target. It was the most complex and ambitious landing in the
history of the red planet. A key component of the landing system, the requirements for
which were driven by the mission ambitious science goals, was the Guidance, Navigation,
and Control (GN&C) system. This paper will describe the technical challenges of the MSL
GN&C system, the resulting architecture and design needed to meet those challenges, and
the development process used for its implementation and testing.
10:25 AAS The MSL Navigation Filter
13-418 Fred Serricchio, NASA / Caltech JPL; Alejandro San Martin, NASA / Caltech JPL;
Edward Wong, NASA / Caltech JPL
The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Entry Descent and Landing (EDL) system delivered a
rover named “Curiosity” at Gale crater (Mars) on August 5th, 2012. MSL EDL used a
Guidance Navigation and Control (GN&C) system to achieve its landing target objectives.
The navigation filter (NavFilter) integrated Descent Inertial Measurement Unit (DIMU)
measurements to estimate position and attitude. The NavFilter used the Terminal Descent
23 rd AAS / AIAA Space Flight Mechanics Meeting Page 27