Simulation of miniature optical correlator for future generation of spacecraft precision landing

Future Mars/planets explorations call for precision and even pinpoint landing. Low cost optical correlator is one of the promising enabling technologies for pinpoint landing. JPL has developed a state-of-the-art miniature optical correlator (MOC) to demonstrate its feasibility. In this paper, we describe a simulation testbed under development for measuring MOC’s performance in a high-fidelity entry, descent, and landing environment, and provide our preliminary simulation result.