Project:	Hazard Divert Size Sensitivity to Rocky Surfaces for the Sample Return Lander EDL Systems Team (JPL AO No. 16130)
Disciplines:	Aerospace Engineering, Statistics
Mentor:	Eugene Bonfiglio, (JPL), Eugene.Bonfiglio@jpl.nasa.gov, Phone: (818) 354-9283
Background:	The EDL Systems team is focused on coordinating the design of the Entry, Descent, and Landing system for the Sample Return Lander project as well as assessing design margin and risk and identifying robustness opportunities. Student will assist the EDL team in assessing statistics of landing on rocks of varying sizes and the sensitivity of the divert size needed to avoid dangerous rocks.
Description:	The EDL systems team is currently assessing the risk of surface rocks to the lander at touchdown as well as mitigation strategies such as hazard detection and avoidance (i.e. short diverts to avoid surface hazards) to further reduce the risk of rocks to landing success. During the summer of 2024 the EDL team is seeking support to use existing MATLAB code and well-understood rock models to quantify the sensitivity of hazard divert size and guidance knowledge to rock risk for rock fields of varying severity. The student will report 99%tile numbers for rocks within the lander footprint for various rock fields as well as 99%tile statistics for diverts needed to avoid dangerous rocks.
References:	Golombek, M., Rapp, D., 1997, Size-frequency distributions of rocks on Mars and Earth analog sites: Implications for future landed missions, Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 102, No. E2, pp. 4117-4129, February 25, 1997 Golombek, M., Huertas, A., Kipp, D., Calef, F., 2012, Detection and Characterization of Rocks and Rock Size-Frequency Distributions at the Final Four Mars Science Laboratory Landing Sites, The International Journal of Mars Science and Exploration, Vol. 7, pp. 1-22, doi: 10.1555/mars.2012.0001
Student Requirements:	General background in statistics and basic modeling. Comfortable programming in MATLAB, including function generation, function calls, and use of the statistics toolbox in MATLAB.
Location / Safety:	Project building and/or room locations: . Student will need special safety training: .
Programs:	This AO can be done under the following programs:   Program    Available To        SURF@JPL    Caltech students only  Click on a program name for program info and application requirements.