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Completed TRL 4 (started at 3, targeting 4)
The Guidance, Navigation and Control (GN&C) technologies for precise and safe landing are essential for future robotic and human exploration missions. Distinct kinds of lidar are typically needed to support different phases of navigation and landing, from long-range/orbital ranging, to velocity measurements from a navigation Doppler lidar (NDL), and to 3D imaging of the landing site from a hazard detection lidar (HDL) just prior to landing. We propose to further advance the development of an efficient beam steering CASALS lidar technology to enable all three lidar functions. Such a system can be dynamically configured into the following modes for AI-enabled hazard detection and terrain relative navigation: 1) 3-D imaging to achieve 4Mpixels/sec 3-D imaging at 1km distance with 1.6 cm ranging precision (1σ); 2) Ranging and velocity measurements for navigation (one to three beams), with cm range and sub cm/s range rate precision at >10 km range.
Enable a single lidar to perform the 3D imaging and long-distance navigation functions, thereby reducing SWaP and cost.
Applications:
Hazard avoidance and navigation for lunar landing;
Satellite service, space debris clean up, and EDL;
3D mapping for asteroid and comet explorations.
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