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Wawrzyniak, Geoffrey

Publications and source records attributed to Wawrzyniak, Geoffrey.

James Webb Space Telescope Initial Mid-Course Correction Monte Carlo Implementation using Task Parallelism

The James Webb Space Telescope will be launched into a highly elliptical orbit that does not possess sufficient energy to achieve a proper Sun-Earth L2 libration point orbit. Three mid-course correction (MCC) maneuvers are planned to rectify the energy deficit: MCC-1a, MCC-1b, and MCC-2. To validate the propellant budget and trajectory design methods, a set of Monte Carlo analyses that incorporate MCC maneuver modeling and execution are employed. The first analysis focuses on the effects of launch vehicle injection errors on the magnitude of MCC-1a. The second on the spread of potential V based on the performance of the propulsion system as applied to all three MCC maneuvers. The final highlights the slight, but notable, contribution of the attitude thrusters during each MCC maneuver. Given the possible variations in these three scenarios, the trajectory design methods are determined to be robust to errors in the modeling of the flight system.

Libration Point Orbit

James Webb Space Telescope Initial Mid-Course Correction Monte Carlo Implementation using Task Parallelism

The James Webb Space Telescope will be launched into a highly elliptical orbit that does not possess sufficient energy to achieve a proper Sun-Earth/Moon L2 libration point orbit. Three mid-course correction (MCC) maneuvers are planned to rectify the energy deficit: MCC-1a, MCC-1b, and MCC-2. To validate the propellant budget and trajectory design methods, a set of Monte Carlo analyses that incorporate MCC maneuver modeling and execution are employed. The first analysis focuses on the effects of launch vehicle injection errors on the magnitude of MCC-1a. The second on the spread of potential V based on the performance of the propulsion system as applied to all three MCC maneuvers. The final highlights the slight, but notable, contribution of the attitude thrusters during each MCC maneuver. Given the possible variations in these three scenarios, the trajectory design methods are determined to be robust to errors in the modeling of the flight system.

James Webb Space Telescope

Tool for Statistical Analysis and Display of Landing Sites

MarsLS is a software tool for analyzing statistical dispersion of spacecraft-landing sites and displaying the results of its analyses. Originally intended for the Mars Explorer Rover (MER) mission, MarsLS is also applicable to landing sites on Earth and non-MER sites on Mars. MarsLS is a collection of interdependent MATLAB scripts that utilize the MATLAB graphical-user-interface software environment to display landing-site data (see figure) on calibrated image-maps of the Martian or other terrain. The landing-site data comprise latitude/longitude pairs generated by Monte Carlo runs of other computer programs that simulate entry, descent, and landing. Using these data, MarsLS can compute a landing-site ellipse a standard means of depicting the area within which the spacecraft can be expected to land with a given probability. MarsLS incorporates several features for the user s convenience, including capabilities for drawing lines and ellipses, overlaying kilometer or latitude/longitude grids, drawing and/or specifying lines and/or points, entering notes, defining and/or displaying polygons to indicate hazards or areas of interest, and evaluating hazardous and/or scientifically interesting areas. As part of such an evaluation, MarsLS can compute the probability of landing in a specified polygonal area.

Wawrzyniak, Geoffrey

Human safety analysis for the Genesis Sample Return mission

The Genesis sample return capsule (SRC) was NASA's first high-profile ballistic re-entry over the United States. Because of the delta-V-imprarting nature of the SRC release sequence, the SRC was targeted to various points in Northeast Nevada and Northwest Utah. Its final target was the Utah Test and Training Range, which is operated by the US Air Force.

Wahl, Tom

Mars Exploration Rovers orbit determination filter strategy

The successful delivery of the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) landers to well with in the boundaries of their surface target areas in January of 2004 was the culmination of years of orbit determination analysis. The process began with a careful consideration of the filter parameters used for pre-launch covariance studies, and continued with the refinement of the filter after launch based on operational experience. At the same time, tools were developed to run a plethora of variations around the nominal filter and anlyze the results in ways that had never been previously attempted for an interplanetary mission. In addition to the achieved sub-kilometer Mars B plane orbit determination knowledge, the filter strategy and process responded to unexpected error sources by both detecting them and proving robust. All these facets of the MER orbit determination filter strategy are described in this paper.

orbit determination