In partnership with the NASA Innovative Partnership Program (IPP) this task integrates space-qualified on-board optical navigation functions (AutoNav) into a high-fidelity Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) simulator (DSENDS) to allow assessments of AutoNav technology for precision landing of a spacecraft on Mars. The DSENDS EDL simulator will also be used as a "virtual spacecraft" to support the testing of an IPP-developed system that integrates AutoNav software developed at JPL with the Inertial Stellar Compass (ISC) system from Draper Laboratories. High-fidelity EDL simulators for Mars currently do not incorporate flight-proven optical and imaging navigation models for precision landing on Mars. Incorporation of these elements into the DSENDS simulator will enable simulation-based system-level studies on using these sophisticated navigation technologies.
