The Use of Lunar Beacons in Lunar Orbit Estimation PDF Download

Author: Thomas M. Carson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Artificial satellites
Languages : en
Pages : 60

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Book Description
Kalman filtering techniques were applied in evaluating the use of lunar beacons in estimating the state of a lunar vehicle. Range and/or range-rate measurements were used as the observational data. Results show that the error in the beacon location can be reduced from an initial error of 1.73 kilometers to approximately 0.2 kilometer, by the use of earth-based observations. The use of on-board observations of the lunar beacons can contribute significantly to lunar orbit estiniation when used in conjunction with earth-based observations. Locating the beacons to provide state information that was difficult to obtain from earth-based measurements provided beneficial. On-board observations also proved adequate in estimating the state of a lunar vehicle when they were the only data source available.