Mid Lift-to-Drag Rigid Vehicle 6-DoF Performance for Human Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing: A Fractional Polynomial Powered Descent Guidance Approach

Defining a feasible vehicle design and mission architecture capable of reliably delivering a payload of 20 metric tons (mt) or more is a great challenge for landing humans on Mars. The Mid Lift-to-Drag Rigid Vehicle (MRV), a rigid decelerator studied in NASA’s Entry, Descent, and Landing Architecture Study (EDLAS), has shown to be a viable vehicle candidate for future human Mars missions. As the vehicle concept matures, models of increasing fidelity are added to the six-degree-of-freedom (6DoF) EDL simulation. This paper presents 6DoF simulation results using model updates for vehicle mass properties, fineness ratio, and aerodynamic-propulsive interactions. Additionally, an assessment of the Fractional-Polynomial Powered Descent Guidance (FP 2 DG) performance is presented, and the vehicle performance is compared with the Tunable Apollo Powered Descent Guidance (TAPDG). Finally, Monte Carlo results of the vehicle design trades are presented.