Cislunar Navigation for the Orion/CEV Program

Status: Current project, August 2007 -- August 2009
Type: New Sensor Concepts

This task studies sensors and estimation algorithms for autonomous spacecraft navigation in the Cislunar region for NASA's Orion/CEV program.

As NASA prepares to send humans back to the Moon,  crew safety is of primary importance. One major concern is ensuring that, in the event of loss of communication with Earth, the vehicle is capable of autonomously navigating and performing maneuvers to provide a safe return and landing at the Earth.

This research investigates methods of meeting the safe return requirement and resulting autonomous navigation and guidance performance.  This study considers the following topics: 

1. selection of sensors used for autonomous navigation
2. measurement models of these sensors and their associated errors,
3. performance of an on-board navigation algorithm using these measurements
4. resulting trajectory dispersions associated with navigation errors during lunar return
5. impact of the above considerations on the EDL requirements that enable a safe return of the crew

Personnel John Christian Glenn Lightsey Sebastian Munoz

Related Publications

Conference Papers
Muñoz, S., Christian, J.A, and Lightsey, E.G., "Development of an End to End Simulation Tool for Autonomous Cislunar Navigation," AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, Chicago, Il, 10 - 13 August 2009.
See full text.

Christian, J.A., and Lightsey, E.G., “A Review of Options for Autonomous Cislunar Navigation,” AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference and Exhibit,  Honolulu, HI, 18 – 21 August 2008.See full text.

Conference Presentations
Muñoz, S., Christian, J.A, and Lightsey, E.G., "Development of an End to End Simulation Tool for Autonomous Cislunar Navigation," AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, Chicago, Il, 10 - 13 August 2009. See full text.

Christian, J.A., and Lightsey, E.G., “A Review of Options for Autonomous Cislunar Navigation,” AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference and Exhibit,  Honolulu, HI, 18 – 21 August 2008.See full text.

Course Presentations
Christian, J., “The Wonderful World of Star Trackers,” Lightsey Research Group Seminar, 10 March 2009. See full text.

Christian, J., "A Review of Options for Autonomous Cislunar Navigation," 5 Feb 2008.
See full text.

Muñoz, S., "EKF Implementation for Cislunar Navigation", Lightsey Research Group Seminar, 24 March 2009.   See full text.

Other

Christian, J.A., Muñoz, S., Lightsey, E.G. “Autonomous Cislunar Navigation for the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle,” UT Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics Recruitment Weekend, February 2009.  

See full text.