Navigation Performance of the Libration Point Satellite Navigation System for Future Mars Exploration

Precise Point Positioning with the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System

By the end of 2012, China had launched 16 BeiDou-2 navigation satellites that include six GEOs, five IGSOs and five MEOs. This has provided initial navigation and precise pointing services ability in the Asia-Pacific regions. In order to assess the navigation and positioning performance of the BeiDou-2 system, Wuhan University has built up a network of BeiDou Experimental Tracking Stations (BET...

Integrated Navigation Architecture Analysis for Moon and Mars Exploration

The new solar system exploration objectives announced in January 2004 have the goal of sending humans back to the Moon by the year 2020 in preparation for human exploration of Mars. Advanced, but cost effective, surface navigation and communication capabilities are required to support these new exploration objectives. In response to this need, a set of three Navigation/Communication architectur...

Surface Navigation and Mobility Intelligence on the Mars Exploration Rovers

Autonomous Navigation Results from the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Mission

In January, 2004, the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission landed two rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, on the surface of Mars. Several autonomous navigation capabilities were employed in space for the first time in this mission. In the Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) phase, both landers used a vision system called the Descent Image Motion Estimation System (DIMES) to estimate horizontal veloci...

Mars microrover navigation: performance evaluation and enhancement

In 1996, NASA will launch the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft, which will carry an 11 kg rover to explore the immediate vicinity of the lander. To assess the capabilities of the rover, we have constructed a new microrover testbed consisting of the Rocky 3.2 vehicle and an indoor test arena containing Mars analog terrain and overhead cameras for automatic, real-time tracking of the true rover positio...