Astrobotic
Integrated Griffin-1 Simulation Sticks the Landing! (Press Release - June 19)
After years of hard work, the Astrobotic team has successfully completed a fully integrated hardware-in-the-loop landing simulation for Griffin-1. During this test, the Griffin-1 flight software, including its Guidance, Navigation and Control (GN&C) system, ran on a production flatsat, which is a platform built with engineering models of the actual flight avionics. This setup was connected to a high-fidelity simulation that included emulated hardware valves, sensor models, physics and environmental conditions.
The flatsat also included an engineering model of the Griffin-1 flight transponder connected to a Telemetry, Tracking and Control (TT&C) receiver. This allowed us to emulate a ground station interface and connect directly to the Astrobotic Mission Control Center (AMCC).
This full-scale Descent Mission Operator Simulation, with the flatsat linked to AMCC, successfully validated Griffin’s descent procedures: from maneuver planning and execution to re-establishing communication with the surface. It also served as a valuable training session for our mission operators.
At the same time, the GN&C, Terrain Relative Navigation (TRN), and Hazard Detection (HD) teams demonstrated a successful soft landing using the same flight-like flatsat setup. For the first time, the TRN and HD computing systems were fully integrated and operating live within the loop. These systems received realistic, real-time camera images and lidar scans of the lunar surface from Astrobotic’s LunaRay software suite integrated with the high-fidelity simulation.
Earlier tests relied on statistical models of the TRN and HD sensors, but this recent simulation marks a major milestone: the full computing stack ran together with the flight software and GN&C system on realistic hardware. This achievement lays the groundwork for even more flight-like tests in the near future.
Congratulations to the team for validating these critical flight software capabilities. Every step takes us closer to a safe and successful landing on the Moon.
Source: Astrobotic
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Astrolab
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