Parameter-Sensitivity Simulation and Analysis for the Design of Soft Lunar Lander

In the design context of overall configuration, structure and landing gear subsystem of a soft lunar lander, modeling and simulation are the main approaches. Dynamics modeling of a two-dimensional symmetric downhill landing was conducted in this paper, pertinent simulation package was established in MATLAB/Simulink environment. Soft landing dynamics and parameter-sensitivity simulation were performed by means of the computer package. Analysis results show that the lunar slope, the vehicle's radius of gyration and pitch angle have a great effect on landing load factor, landing stability and stroke of shock absorbers. Therefore, they should be strictly controlled as small as possible. Vertical and lateral components of velocity vector have also a considerable influence on landing performance, the lateral component is desired to be controlled null in actual landing.