Planet Surface Simulation with PANGU

Planetary landers have, in the past, relied on physical means to protect the payload from the shock of impact on the surface [1]. These landers, starting their descent from orbit with their initial position only known to a few kilometres, were not required to land at a particular landing spot, but only to land safely. Today, much more knowledge, obtained from earlier landings and high-resolution orbiting instruments, is available about the surfaces of some planets than was available when previous landers were designed. Missions are becoming more demanding in terms of the accuracy of landing and significant effort is now focused on the design of surface relative navigation systems.