InSight Entry, Descent, and Landing Preflight Performance Predictions

Abstract

On 26 November 2018, the Interior Exploration Using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) lander successfully touched down on the surface of Mars. Over its more than seven year development, NASA Langley Research Center’s Program to Optimize Simulated Trajectories II (POST2) was used to assess the mission’s entry, descent, and landing (EDL) vehicle system performance against related requirements across the full range of possible environmental and spacecraft conditions. Due to the high degree of entry body, lander platform, and EDL design heritage, much of the simulation code was derived from the 2007 Mars Phoenix Lander mission. The InSight POST2 six-degree-of-freedom simulation included models for Mars atmosphere, gravity, and digital elevation maps of the landing location. Additionally, vehicle-specific aerodynamic, parachute, engine, navigation sensor, flight software, and landing radar models were included. A set of dispersions for each model, as well as for additional simulation input parameters, was also included in order to provide a statistical, Monte Carlo prediction of the EDL system performance. An overview of the preflight performance assessments completed, including the various simulation campaigns used, will be provided. Ultimately, this work was critical in the assessment of readiness for the InSight launch. A brief description of the use of this simulation in support of flight operations is also discussed.