Tool for Statistical Analysis and Display of Landing Sites

MarsLS is a software tool for analyzing statistical dispersion of spacecraft-landing sites and displaying the results of its analyses. Originally intended for the Mars Explorer Rover (MER) mission, MarsLS is also applicable to landing sites on Earth and non-MER sites on Mars. MarsLS is a collection of interdependent MATLAB scripts that utilize the MATLAB graphical-user- interface software environment to display landing-site data (see figure) on calibrated image-maps of the Martian or other terrain. The landing- site data comprise latitude/longitude pairs generated by Monte Carlo runs of other computer programs that simulate entry, descent, and landing. Using these data, MarsLS can compute a landing-site ellipse — a standard means of depicting the area within which the spacecraft can be expected to land with a given probability. MarsLS incorporates several features for the user’s convenience, including capabilities for drawing lines and ellipses, overlaying kilometer or latitude/longitude grids, drawing and/or specifying lines and/or points, entering notes, defining and/or displaying polygons to indicate hazards or areas of interest, and evaluating hazardous and/or scientifically interesting areas. As part of such an evaluation, MarsLS can compute the probability of landing in a specified polygonal area.