3D flash lidar performance in flight testing on the Morpheus autonomous, rocket propelled lander to a lunar like hazard field
For the first time, a 3 D imaging Flash Lidar instrument has been used in flight to scan a lunar like hazard field, build a 3 D Digital Elevation Map (DEM) identify a safe landing site, and, in concert with an experimental Guidance, Navigation, and Control system, help to guide the Morpheus autonomous, rocket propelled, free flying lander to that safe site on the hazard field. The flight tests served as the TRL 6 demo of the Autonomous Precision Landing and Hazard Detection and Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) system and included launch from NASA Kennedy, a lunar like descent trajectory from an altitude of 250m, and landing on a lunar like hazard field of rocks, craters, hazardous slopes, and safe sites 400m down range. The ALHAT project developed a system capable of enabling safe, precise crewed or robotic landings in challenging terrain on planetary bodies under any ambient lighting conditions. The Flash Lidar is a second generation, compact, real time, air cooled instrument. Based upon extensive on ground characterization at flight ranges, the Flash Lidar was shown to be capable of imaging hazards from a slant range of 1 km with an 8 cm range precision and a range accuracy better than 35 cm, both at 1 s. The Flash Lidar identified landing hazards as small as 30 cm from the maximum slant range which Morpheus could achieve (450 m) however, under certain wind conditions it was susceptible to scintillation arising from air heated by the rocket engine and to pre triggering on a dust cloud created during launch and transported down range by wind.
Defense Security