This paper presents the preliminary design of the Guidance and Control System of a lunar nano (LuNaDrone). This small, rocket-propelled spacecraft is equipped with autonomous navigation, which provides the drone with the ability to fly over the lunar surface. The extreme mobility capabilities of this spacecraft allow a wide range of applications, from exploring sites of interest to last-mile delivery of small payloads. One of the most demanding use-case scenarios is the exploration of lunar pits, which are particularly interesting as some of them may provide access to underground lava tubes. This application is the one considered for the preliminary design of LuNaDrone’s guidance and control system. The flight profile for this mission is a fixed altitude trajectory that can be subdivided into a sequence of elementary manoeuvres. The guidance algorithm presented in this paper allow for the evaluation of the desired state and ideal controls at each point of the trajectory. The tuning of the controller, a Finite-Horizon Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR), is obtained from a full factorial design of experiments and refined through numerical optimization to ensure precise navigation while minimizing propellant consumption. The method presented in this paper successfully results in a fully functioning preliminary version of the LuNaDrone guidance and control system

PRELIMINARY DESIGN OF THE GUIDANCE AND CONTROL SYSTEM OF A LUNAR DRONE / Pescaglia, S.; Bortolato, G.; Revello, A.; Maggiore, P.; Vittori, R.. - In: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MECHANICS AND CONTROL. - ISSN 1590-8844. - 25:2(2023), pp. 151-160. [10.69076/jomac.2024.0020]

PRELIMINARY DESIGN OF THE GUIDANCE AND CONTROL SYSTEM OF A LUNAR DRONE

Pescaglia S.;Bortolato G.;Revello A.;Maggiore P.;Vittori R.
2023

Abstract

This paper presents the preliminary design of the Guidance and Control System of a lunar nano (LuNaDrone). This small, rocket-propelled spacecraft is equipped with autonomous navigation, which provides the drone with the ability to fly over the lunar surface. The extreme mobility capabilities of this spacecraft allow a wide range of applications, from exploring sites of interest to last-mile delivery of small payloads. One of the most demanding use-case scenarios is the exploration of lunar pits, which are particularly interesting as some of them may provide access to underground lava tubes. This application is the one considered for the preliminary design of LuNaDrone’s guidance and control system. The flight profile for this mission is a fixed altitude trajectory that can be subdivided into a sequence of elementary manoeuvres. The guidance algorithm presented in this paper allow for the evaluation of the desired state and ideal controls at each point of the trajectory. The tuning of the controller, a Finite-Horizon Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR), is obtained from a full factorial design of experiments and refined through numerical optimization to ensure precise navigation while minimizing propellant consumption. The method presented in this paper successfully results in a fully functioning preliminary version of the LuNaDrone guidance and control system
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
25a_20.pdf

accesso aperto

Tipologia: 2a Post-print versione editoriale / Version of Record
Licenza: PUBBLICO - Tutti i diritti riservati
Dimensione 732.27 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
732.27 kB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri
Pubblicazioni consigliate

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11583/2993647