A Navigation Observation-Driven Trajectory Planning Method for Asteroid Landing

Abstract

In asteroid landing and exploration missions, the observation quality of optical navigation features is one of the key factors that influence the accuracy of autonomous navigation. To enhance the efficiency of navigation observation in asteroid landing missions, the observation requirements of navigation features were incorporated into the trajectory planning process, and a navigation observation-driven trajectory planning method for asteroid landing was proposed. The unevenly distribution of navigation features on asteroid surface was analyzed and a set of trajectory control points were determined by calculating their clustering centers. The landing trajectory was then redesigned by using Bezier Curve, and a two-dimensional waypoint sequence was obtained to fulfill the observation requirements. Furthermore, a three-dimensional navigation observation-driven trajectory was established by solving a trajectory optimization problem with waypoint constraints, revealing the impact of navigation feature distribution and observation requirements on landing trajectory. Numerical simulation results show that the proposed method can flexibly adjust landing trajectory and significantly improve the observation quality of navigation features.

Keywords

asteroid exploration / optical navigation / trajectory planning / feature observation.