NASA Navigation Experiment Shows Promise for Planetary Landings.
NASA demonstrated its SPLICE guidance and navigation payload on an Alta-X drone, which flew simulated lunar descents and landings in a test near Edwards, California. The system is designed to divert from unsafe landing areas.
NASA reported that it successfully demonstrated technology designed to help spacecraft navigate on their own to safe landing sites on the Moon and other planets. An Alta-X drone carrying the agency's Safe and Precise Landing, Integrated Capabilities Evolution (SPLICE) payload completed simulated lunar descent and landing maneuvers on Aug. 27. The flight took place at Rogers Dry Lake near NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California.
According to NASA, the payload used an advanced guidance system to map the terrain and assess potential landing areas. If the system determines a targeted area is unsafe, it diverts the drone to a safer location. It produces high-resolution digital elevation maps from light-detection and sensor data.
Researchers at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston developed the payload. They worked with Armstrong specialists to integrate, test, and fly it on the drone in June and July. Those earlier tests verified communications, data handling, telemetry, and command and control performance between the payload and the drone. NASA said they prepared the way for a full-scale test at Voyager Technologies in Mojave, California, which the page described as planned for later in the month.
"This flight test is the culmination of almost a decade of work, for the SPLICE project," said Davis Adams, NASA project manager. He said the flight raised the technology readiness level, making it ready for integration into future robotic and crewed lunar flights, and that validation of the guidance and navigation systems applies to descent and landing missions on Earth, the Moon, and Mars.
NASA said it has worked with several commercial lunar lander providers to build versions of SPLICE into their platforms. Some landers slated for upcoming Moon Base missions use data NASA collected through systems like SPLICE to make soft touchdowns on the lunar surface. Adams said NASA is coordinating with industry on use of the guidance system once it is available in the NASA software catalog, currently planned for this fall. Some companies are also evaluating its navigation capabilities for precision landing and possible extensions to autonomous surface mobility.
NASA's Flight Opportunities project, based at Armstrong, supported early flight testing of SPLICE. That testing included a descent altitude and landing trajectory in 2019 similar to what a lunar mission would involve, and a demonstration of two NASA-developed precision landing sensor systems in 2020.
At a Glance
- The Alta-X drone flew simulated lunar descent and landing maneuvers with the SPLICE payload on Aug. 27 at Rogers Dry Lake, California.
- Johnson Space Center researchers developed SPLICE, and Armstrong specialists integrated and flew it on the drone in June and July.
- NASA project manager Davis Adams called the flight the culmination of almost a decade of work on SPLICE.
- NASA plans to make the guidance system available in its software catalog this fall.
Sources
This brief was written by Brightside Report from the reporting linked above. Spot an error? Request a correction.