Navigation of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover from Earth to Jezero Crater

Navigation of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover from Earth to Jezero Crater

Time: Mar 23, 2021 10:30 AM in Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Presented by: Gerhard Kruizinga, Navigation Engineer, Mars 2020 Navigation Team Chief, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Moderator: Dr. Frank van Diggelen, ION President

In humanity’s most sophisticated and historic mission ever, the NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Mission, Journey to the Red Planet, began on July 30, 2020 with the launch of the Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Nearly seven months later, Perseverance landed safely in the Jezero Crater.

This precision landing required very high precision inter-planetary navigation and accommodation of entry guidance target requirements, planetary protection requirements and propellant allocation for trajectory correction maneuvers. The main navigation objective was to predict the trajectory accuracy at atmospheric entry, such that the Entry Descent and Landing system requirements were satisfied for a safe landing. This presentation discusses the planning to meet all navigation requirements and the actual navigation performance during cruise and landing.

Gerhard Kruizinga has been a navigation engineer for the last 23 years at the Caltech Jet Propulsion Laboratory In Pasadena, California. He has supported Earth science and interplanetary missions including the previous Mars lander missions Phoenix, Mars Science Laboratory and InSight.