MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER NAVIGATION STRATEGY FOR THE EXOMARS SCHIAPARELLI EDM LANDER MISSION

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) had planned to provide surface relay support for the brief mission of the ExoMars Schiaparelli EDM lander on Mars in October 2016. Schiaparelli was launched with the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) in March 2016. The two spacecraft composed the first part of the ExoMars program. To place MRO directly overhead on its third overflight of the Schiaparelli landing site, two propulsive maneuvers were performed starting three months prior to Schiaparelli's arrival at Mars. This paper documents the maneuver strategy employed by the MRO Navigation Team to support the Schiaparelli overflight campaign.