Fundamental Research on Reduction of Impact Forces Using Actively Controlled Landing Gear in Lunar/Planetary Landers

Abstract

In the past, landers have landed on flat areas of lunar/planetary surfaces in order to avoid terrains that are rocky, or that have craters or hills. For next-generation exploration, lunar/planetary landers will require sophisticated technology to land on these areas as well for furture exploration. In this paper, we propose predictive control for actively controlled landing gear with a ball screw linear actuator. The effectiveness of proposed method is shown through simulation and experimental results.