Apollo LM guidance computer software for the final lunar descent
1973; Elsevier BV; Volume: 9; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1016/0005-1098(73)90078-2
ISSN1873-2836
Autores Tópico(s)Astro and Planetary Science
ResumoIn all manned lunar landings to date, the lunar module Commander has taken partial manual control of the spacecraft during the final stage of the descent, below roughly 500 ft altitude. Because of the irregularity of the lunar surface and the inevitability of some error in the on-board estimate of the spacecraft's position with respect to the local terrain, fully automatic landings, with men aboard, cannot be anticipated until landing fields are prepared on the moon. This report describes programs developed at the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, MIT, for use in the LM's guidance computer during the final descent. At this time computational demands on the on-board computer are at a maximum, and particularly close interaction with the crew is necessary. The emphasis is on the design of the computer software rather than on justification of the particular guidance algorithms employed. After the computer and the mission have been introduced, the current configuration of the final landing programs and an advanced version developed experimentally by the author are described.
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