Engineering topics

Dane Erickson

Publications and source records attributed to Dane Erickson.

3 records

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Post-flight Reconstruction for a Mars Ascent Vehicle

As the design of a Mars Ascent Vehicle as part of the Mars Sample Return Campaign continues to mature, new focus is placed on the ability to reconstruct and validate the as-flown performance in post-flight analysis. This is increasingly important as the vehicle considers alternate design concepts that offer significant mass reductions at a cost of reduced onboard sensing capabilities. To understand architectural impacts to validate as-inserted vehicle conditions, the MAV team has assessed several options for capturing this data either on the vehicle or using external tracking options. This paper summarizes potential architectures, their associated performance, and integration challenges.

Evan Anzalone↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Integrated GNC Modifications and Performance Assessments for the Mars Ascent Vehicle, Spin-Stabilized Upper Stage Configuration

The objective of the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV), an element of the Mars Sample Return (MSR) campaign, is to successfully transport Martian surface samples from the Martian surface to a stable Low-Martian Orbit. Complete autonomy is required throughout ascent, and orbital insertion is constrained by tight dispersion boundaries. Given mass requirements to merely transport the MAV onto the Martian surface, reducing the total mass of the MAV reduces stress on all other campaign elements. An unguided, spin-stabilized second stage MAV allows for lower overall vehicle mass, at the cost of reduced GNC capability. This paper presents GNC modifications developed and employed to improve the performance of an unguided, spin-stabilized second stage MAV configuration. These updates include a predictive calculation scheme to solve the spin-stabilized attitude necessary for successful orbital insertion, and a spin-stabilized control law for a preliminary low-rate first stage spin-up. Trades were conducted focusing on first and second stage low-rate and high-rate spin rates (and other factors) in MSFC's MANTIS toolkit through 6-degree-of-freedom simulation and Monte Carlo analysis, and are presented here.

Dane Erickson↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Guidance Enhancements and Performance Assessments for the Mars Ascent Vehicle Spin-Stabilized Upper Stage Configuration

The objective of the Mars Sample Return (MSR) campaign is to return samples from the surface of Mars to Earth for research. As one element of the MSR campaign, the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) is responsible for transporting the samples from the surface of Mars to a Low-Martian Orbit (LMO) for retrieval. Complete autonomy is required throughout ascent, and orbital insertion is constrained by tight dispersion boundaries. An unguided, spin-stabilized second stage for MAV has been selected over a guided upper-stage to drive mass savings and reduce overall MSR campaign mass risk, at the cost of reduced GNC capability. To address this design change, the MAV GNC team has derived a robust prediction algorithm, building on previous energy management schemes, that solves for a single inertial pointing direction solution for the spin-stabilized 2nd stage burn. Algorithm stability is explored that compared to previous versions of the algorithm. Also, a set of analytical partials was developed to study MAV’s dispersed orbital insertion performance with respect to MAV system uncertainties. These partials were verified through simulation analysis and prove useful for analytical insight into the dynamics of MAV during the 2nd stage maneuver.

GNC↗