Sequential convex programming approach for real-time guidance during the powered descent phase of Mars landing missions

Abstract

An on-board guidance generation approach for Mars pinpoint landing is proposed based on so-called RT-SCP (Real-Time Sequential Convex Programming) formulation. To take into account optimal flight time in the formulation, a discretized form of the landing problem is linearized with respect to not only states and control, but also time increment. To implement this strategy in real-time, on-board demonstrations with GR740, which is next generation on-board processor of ESA, are conducted. From the demonstration results, the total number of time steps for real-time operation is determined. Numerical simulation results indicate that the proposed strategy well follows the optimal solution from GPOPS-II under no disturbance condition.