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Optimal trajectories for soft landing on asteroids
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Robotic exploration of asteroids has been identified by NASA as a major long-term goal.
Central to many asteroid missions is a precise soft landing to enable surface exploration or exploitation. This paper describes a technique for computing optimal autonomous controlled trajectories for soft landing in an irregular gravity field of a rotating asteroid. We will first discuss the complexity of the forces that act on the spacecraft during a landing and how we can model them. Then, we will present the numerical method used to solve the optimal control problem, and typical results are shown on case studies at asteroids Vesta and Golevka. In each example, we will identify the best mission design scenarios, as well as some operational difficulties. Finally, we will investigate sensitivity to parameter uncertainties and the implementation of a real-time feedback controller to increase landing accuracy.