Lidar-based Hazard Avoidance for Safe Landing on Mars

Hazard avoidance is a key technology for landing large payloads safely on the surface of Mars. During hazard avoidance a lander uses onboard sensors to detect hazards in the landing zone, autonomously selects a safe landing site, and then maneuvers to the new site. Design of a system for hazard avoidance is facilitated by simulation where trades involving sensor and mission requirements can be explored. This paper describes the algorithms and models that comprise a scanning lidarbased hazard avoidance simulation including a terrain generator, a lidar model, hazard avoidance algorithms and powered landing guidance algorithms. Preliminary simulation results show that the proposed hazard avoidance algorithms are effective at detecting hazards and guiding the lander to a safe landing site.