An Enhanced Modular Terminal Descent Sensor for Landing on Planetary Bodies

Remote Sensing Solutions (RSS) proposes the development of a modular, small, high performance terrain relative Terminal Descent Radar (TDR) for range and velocity sensing of planetary landing and vehicles engaging in proximity operations. The innovation builds off of and improves upon the highly successful Curiosity / Mars Science Laboratory sky crane Terminal Descent Sensor. Our improvements include significant improvements to the size, weight, and reproducibility of the design; a modular design; and improvement in the ability to detect and remove the effects of airborne debris.In this effort we propose to realize prototypes of our recurring, reproducible designs at Ka-band and W-band. We also propose to develop, implement, and validate through field demonstration new measurement algorithms that can mitigate issues of false velocity measurements due to moving dust and sand, particularly at low altitudes where thruster fire can cause movement of surface particles. Such algorithms mitigate that concern for planetary bodies where dust or sand are a concern (i.e. the Moon, Mars, comets, asteroids, and even Europa), and, by extending measurements closer to the surface, save mission cost and complexity by decoupling the landing problem from errors in the inertial measurement unit.