Spacecraft Entry Navigation using Sigma Point Kalman Filtering
Martin Heyne, Robert H. Bishop · 2006
The Sigma Point Kalman Filter (SPKF) is considered here for spacecraft navigation. The complex situation of Entry, Decent and Landing (EDL) at a distant planet is considered by applying the SPKF to the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission based on MER EDL data. The filter is implemented on the Electra programmable radio which is planned to be available on every subsequent mission to Mars beginning with Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). For the EDL phase, Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) acceleration data is processed as a measurement through the SPKF to navigate the spacecraft. Results show that the SPKF/IMU based navigation architecture provides good knowledge of the spacecraft state during EDL.