Dec 14, 2011

Guidance and Navigation Control

Throughout the mission it is vital that the position and orientation of the spacecraft are precisely known so that it can be guided to the chosen landing site on the moon. Standard ground tracking techniques are used to accomplish this.
Soon after the Trans Lunar Injection burn and stage separation, a first Mid-Course Manoeuvre (MCM) is performed using the Braking Stage Reaction Control System. A sufficiently large delta-V for the MCM is provided for this burn that serves to compensate for injection inaccuracies of the solid motor. One or more subsequent MCM manoeuvres are performed throughout the rest of the lunar transit to accurately target the landing site. Following this the breaking stage is used to slow the spacecraft to a safe velocity for landing on the moon.

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