Improved projections of Martian landing areas over the years.
The 150 x 20 km[1] landing footprint of Opportunity rover on Meridiani Planum, Mars in 2004

This is a list of spacecraft landing ellipses on extraterrestrial bodies. Active research has continued in the 21st-century,[2][3][4][5] and their accuracy has improved over the years in tandem that of weather forecasts (with the more labile cone of uncertainty of hurricanes in particular bearing a family resemblance). The size of the ellipse graphically represents the statistical degree of uncertainty, i.e. the confidence level.[6]

Ellipse table

Mission Country/Agency Destination Year of landing Axes Notes
Apollo 11 United States NASA Moon 1969 11.5 miles (18.5 km) by 3 miles (4.8 km)[7] First crewed landing
Viking United States NASA Mars 1979 174 miles (280 km) by 62 miles (100 km)[8] Landing using airbags
Mars Pathfinder United States NASA Mars 1997 200 x 70 km[9] or 200 x 100 km[10] Landing using airbags
Mars Exploration Rovers United States NASA Mars 2003 150 x 20 km[11] Landing using airbags
Phoenix United States NASA Mars 2008 130 x 27 km[9]
Mars Science Laboratory United States NASA Mars 2012 25 x 20 km[9] Landing using sky crane
InSight United States NASA Mars 2018 130 x 27 km[9]
Mars 2020 United States NASA Mars 2021 7.7 x 6.6 km[12] Landing using sky crane
SLIM Japan JAXA Moon 2024 TBD 100 m accuracy; dubbed "Moon Sniper"

See also

References

  1. ^ "Landing Ellipse for the Opportunity Rover Mars mission | Time and Navigation". timeandnavigation.si.edu.
  2. ^ Zhang, Yuan-Long; Chen, Ke-Jun; Liu, Lu-Hua; Tang, Guo-Jian; Bao, Wei-Min (August 22, 2017). "Rapid generation of landing footprint based on geometry-predicted trajectory". Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering. 231 (10): 1851–1861. doi:10.1177/0954410016662066 – via CrossRef.
  3. ^ "Zeroing in on the Target". NASA Mars Exploration.
  4. ^ Saraf, Amitabh; Leavitt, James; Ferch, Mark; Mease, Kenneth (August 16, 2004). "Landing Footprint Computation for Entry Vehicles". American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. doi:10.2514/6.2004-4774 – via CrossRef.
  5. ^ Zhang, Yuan-long; Xie, Yu; Xu, Xin (February 1, 2023). "Generation of Landing Footprints for Re-entry Vehicles Based on Lateral Profile Priority". International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences. 24 (1): 261–273. doi:10.1007/s42405-022-00503-1 – via Springer Link.
  6. ^ "Landing ellipses". The Planetary Society.
  7. ^ Chaikin, Andrew (2007). A Man on the Moon: The Triumphant Story Of The Apollo Space Program. New York: Penguin Group. p. 88. ISBN 978-0-14-311235-8.
  8. ^ https://phys.org/news/2020-09-nasa-technology-enables-precision.amp. ((cite web)): Missing or empty |title= (help)
  9. ^ a b c d "Zeroing in on the Target". NASA Mars Exploration. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  10. ^ https://mars.nasa.gov/MPF/mpfwwwimages/mpffootp.html. ((cite web)): Missing or empty |title= (help)
  11. ^ "Image Gallery: Perseverance Rover - NASA". mars.nasa.gov. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  12. ^ "Perseverance Rover Landing Ellipse in Jezero Crater". NASA Mars Exploration. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
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