Channel - Guidance Navigation & Control
These training modules were compiled by the GN&C Technical Discipline Team (TDT). The GN&C discipline focuses on determining, guiding, and controlling the dynamic state of a vehicle to enable robotic and human space exploration.
The GN&C community also offers regular webcasts led by subject matter experts, held the third Wednesday of every other month at 2 pm Eastern. If you are interested in viewing the session abstracts or attending the next webcast, please register in advance in the NASA GN&C Community of Practice. Visit the GN&C Webcast Series page to view previously held webcasts.
9/16/2025 11:52:05 AM
Channel Videos
Advanced Loopshaping Control Design Lecture Week 1: Course Logistics
Peter Seiler
4/7/2025 11:40:05 AM
Advanced Loopshaping Control Design Lecture Week 10: Bode Sensitivity Integral
Peter Seiler
4/25/2025 6:00:00 PM
Advanced Loopshaping Control Design Lecture Week 12: Multiloop Disk Margins
Peter Seiler
5/19/2025 5:12:23 PM
Advanced Loopshaping Control Design Lecture Week 2: Proportional-Integral (PI) Control
Peter Seiler
4/7/2025 1:00:00 PM
Advanced Loopshaping Control Design Lecture Week 3: Two Degree-Of-Freedom Control
Peter Seiler
4/8/2025 2:00:00 PM
Advanced Loopshaping Control Design Lecture Week 4: Frequency Content of Signals
Peter Seiler
4/8/2025 3:00:00 PM
Advanced Loopshaping Control Design Lecture Week 5: Model Uncertainty
Peter Seiler
4/10/2025 4:00:00 PM
Advanced Loopshaping Control Design Lecture Week 6: Disk Margin
Peter Seiler
4/11/2025 6:00:00 PM
Advanced Loopshaping Control Design Lecture Week 7: Frequency Domain Performance Requirements
Peter Seiler
4/15/2025 1:30:00 PM
Advanced Loopshaping Control Design Lecture Week 8: Controller Components For Loopshaping
Peter Seiler
4/21/2025 2:30:00 PM
ASSET Training Series Part 1, Astro Demo 1: Two-Body Model
Aaron Houin
9/3/2024 5:46:36 PM
ASSET Training Series Part 2, Astro Demo 2: N- Body Frame
Aaron Houin
9/3/2024 5:46:36 PM
ASSET Training Series Part 3, Astro Demo 3: CR3BP Frame
Aaron Houin
9/3/2024 5:46:36 PM
ASSET Training Series Part 4, Astro Demo 4: EPPR Frame
Aaron Houin
9/3/2024 5:46:36 PM
ASSET Training Series Part 5, ODEs and Integrators
Aaron Houin
8/28/2024 5:46:36 PM
ASSET Training Series Part 6, Optimal Control Problems (OCPs)
Aaron Houin
8/28/2024 5:37:44 PM
ASSET Training Series Part 7, Phases
Aaron Houin
8/28/2024 5:50:44 PM
ASSET Training Series Part 8, Vector Functions
Aaron Houin
8/28/2024 5:59:17 PM
ASSET Training Series Part 9, What is the Astro Library
Aaron Houin
9/3/2024 5:46:36 PM
Control Allocation
Abstract:
Redundant controls are ubiquitous in many aerospace domains, including aircraft, spacecraft, and launch vehicles. Multiple control effectors having different capabilities (e.g., reaction controls, aerosurfaces, and vectored engines) must be optimally allocated to achieve high-performance and robust vehicle control, while considering different constraints, cost, or performance metrics associated with various control mixing schemes. These can include force or deflection limits, rate limits, propellant usage or drag penalties, cross-axis coupling, uncertainties, or even servoelastic interactions.
This presentation introduces the fundamentals of control allocation theory, based on linear algebra and convex sets, using a handful of examples taken from the air and space vehicle domains. It is shown that even simple methods can provide verifiable and quantifiable performance benefits over ad-hoc approaches, and can support enhanced functions like fault tolerance and control reconfiguration.
Jeb Orr
12/7/2022 7:00:00 PM
Evolution of Mars Rover Surface Navigation Autonomy
NASA has launched four generations of Mars Rovers, each more capable than the last of driving autonomously on Mars. Autonomous behaviors like Hazard Detection and Avoidance, Visual Odometry, and Visual Terrain Tracking all have been used to help rovers drive more safely, more precisely, and into unknown areas never before seen by humans.
This talk will discuss the evolution and benefits of vision-based Surface Navigational Autonomy across all four rover missions: what technologies were available, which were selected and at what mission phase, how they were used on Mars, and what mission benefits have resulted from their use. We'll review lessons learned from developing multiple generations of rovers, some of the new mobility capabilities of Perseverance, and the trials and tribulations of mission operations: rovers getting stuck, discovering unexpected terrains, and the implications for mission planning of letting a rover choose its own way.
Mark Maimone
9/15/2021 6:00:00 PM
Fundamentals of Space Mechanical Systems Lubrication for GN&C Engineers
Moving mechanical assemblies (MMAs) designed for use in the extreme environment of space, require proper lubrication in order to enable their operation and to attain the required life for a given application. Simply stated, all lubricants are not created equal. Many factors must be considered when selecting lubrication systems intended for spaceflight hardware including operating environments, speed of application, lubrication regime, material compatibility, reactivity, and life requirements. Background material will be presented that will allow users to formulate a set of questions that should serve as a guide to lubricant selection and to identify potential problematic areas of concern for spaceflight hardware. Stribeck’s curve and a discussion on the differences between boundary and elastohydrodynamic (EHD) lubrication will be presented. Successful approaches to lubricant selection, including test methods currently available, will be discussed and actual examples encountered presented.
Dr. Michael Dube
11/14/2018 7:00:00 PM
Launch Vehicle Load Relief: A Historical Perspective and Some New Concepts
A review of historical flight control approaches to launch vehicle load relief is presented, with an emphasis on the capabilities and limitations of acceleration and angle-of-attack feedback schemes. The basic dynamics and control principles of a rigid rocket are used to illustrate trade-offs and design considerations. The control laws used for NASA vehicles such as Saturn I/I-B, Space Shuttle, and Ares I-X are reviewed. It is shown that modern, low-cost strapdown GPS/INS systems, combined with preflight measured winds data, can be used to provide quality estimates of the angle of attack for use in modern load relief schemes.
Jeb Orr
11/17/2021 7:00:00 PM
Mars Ascent Vehicle GNC Targeting Routines with Considerations for Flight Software Development
The Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) will be the first vehicle to perform an ascent from the surface of another atmospheric planetary body outside of the Earth‐Moon system. Significant light‐time delay requires complete autonomy of flight throughout ascent, and naturally a high level of reliability is desired in both MAV’s hardware and software subsystems. The MAV Guidance, Navigation and Controls (GNC) team and the MAV Flight Software (FSW) team have partnered together to improve the efficiency of algorithm integration onto the MAV flight processor, and to increase confidence that said integration is successful and without human error. An interface architecture is proposed for the GNC suite that allows both the guidance and navigation subsystems to provide code algorithms directly in C++, and the controls subsystem to provide MATLAB Simulink auto‐coded algorithms.
Several continuous integration/deployment (CI/CD) methodologies have been considered for ease of transition of algorithm code from the GNC team to the FSW team. The GNC/FSW teams also worked together to develop a cFS‐friendly wrapper which abstracts the integration of the GNC algorithm code into an interface‐level API that is compatible with cFS. Several iterations of vehicle GNC code have been produced between the GNC/FSW team’s partnership, and this strong interface between these two teams have allowed the GNC/FSW teams to greatly increase confidence of efficient and error‐free implementation of the GNC code onto MAV for a successful flight.
Jason Everett
3/16/2022 6:00:00 PM
Multivariable Controls Course Week 1: Classical Control of MIMO Systems
Peter Seiler
6/20/2025 2:42:16 PM
Multivariable Controls Course Week 2: Control Design Via Pole Placement
Peter Seiler
6/20/2025 2:42:16 PM
Multivariable Controls Course Week 3: Linear Quadratic Regulator
Peter Seiler
6/20/2025 2:42:16 PM
Multivariable Controls Course Week 5: Probability Theory and Random Processes
Peter Seiler
6/20/2025 2:42:16 PM
Pitfalls of Autonomy
Autonomy for Engineering Systems has become a highly controversial topic within the very parts of engineering systems theory and design where it was first gestated. In this talk I want examine the “myths of autonomy” and look carefully at some of the pitfall issues surrounding autonomy.
Achieving full autonomy in cyber-systems is an extremely complex and difficult enterprise, and very unlikely to be acceptable for reasons that are related to human endeavor as well as safety. Humans must continue to interact with computer-controlled systems. The only viable system autonomy systems will be one that support collaboration on a careful foundation of research on human–cyber system interaction. In this presentation, insight into how this last might be developed will be discussed.
Mark Balas
6/23/2021 6:00:00 PM
Pointing Error Metrics Workshop Part 1: Traditional Pointing Error Definitions and Metrics
Abstract:
The purpose of this Workshop is to inform practicing GN&C engineers, system engineers, and payload instrument engineers of advanced methodologies for analyzing the pointing performance of spacecraft and writing unambiguous pointing requirements that are relevant to performance of optical payloads, especially payloads with stringent pointing stability and jitter requirements. Another purpose of this Workshop is to provide techniques that can help attitude control and spacecraft system engineers understand the relationship between the Optical Transfer Function (OTF) and pointing errors. In this Workshop, rigorous mathematical definitions of displacement, smear, and jitter will be presented, and smear and jitter metrics incorporating key elements of optical engineering will be derived.
Dr. Mark Pittelkau
1/4/2023 3:49:00 PM
Pointing Error Metrics Workshop Part 2: Image Motion Optical Transfer Functions (IM OTF)
Abstract:
The purpose of this Workshop is to inform practicing GN&C engineers, system engineers, and payload instrument engineers of advanced methodologies for analyzing the pointing performance of spacecraft and writing unambiguous pointing requirements that are relevant to performance of optical payloads, especially payloads with stringent pointing stability and jitter requirements. Another purpose of this Workshop is to provide techniques that can help attitude control and spacecraft system engineers understand the relationship between the Optical Transfer Function (OTF) and pointing errors. In this Workshop, rigorous mathematical definitions of displacement, smear, and jitter will be presented, and smear and jitter metrics incorporating key elements of optical engineering will be derived.
Dr. Mark Pittelkau
1/4/2023 4:28:00 PM
Pointing Error Metrics Workshop Part 3: Requirements Definitions, Flowdown, Interfaces, Model Updates
Abstract:
The purpose of this Workshop is to inform practicing GN&C engineers, system engineers, and payload instrument engineers of advanced methodologies for analyzing the pointing performance of spacecraft and writing unambiguous pointing requirements that are relevant to performance of optical payloads, especially payloads with stringent pointing stability and jitter requirements. Another purpose of this Workshop is to provide techniques that can help attitude control and spacecraft system engineers understand the relationship between the Optical Transfer Function (OTF) and pointing errors. In this Workshop, rigorous mathematical definitions of displacement, smear, and jitter will be presented, and smear and jitter metrics incorporating key elements of optical engineering will be derived.
Dr. Mark Pittelkau
1/4/2023 4:35:00 PM
Pointing Error Metrics Workshop Part 4: Pointing Performance Analysis
Abstract:
The purpose of this Workshop is to inform practicing GN&C engineers, system engineers, and payload instrument engineers of advanced methodologies for analyzing the pointing performance of spacecraft and writing unambiguous pointing requirements that are relevant to performance of optical payloads, especially payloads with stringent pointing stability and jitter requirements. Another purpose of this Workshop is to provide techniques that can help attitude control and spacecraft system engineers understand the relationship between the Optical Transfer Function (OTF) and pointing errors. In this Workshop, rigorous mathematical definitions of displacement, smear, and jitter will be presented, and smear and jitter metrics incorporating key elements of optical engineering will be derived.
Dr. Mark Pittelkau
1/4/2023 5:40:00 PM
Robust Control Analysis and Design Course: Flutter Control
Peter Seiler
5/14/2025 12:06:07 PM
Robust Control Analysis and Design Course: Robust Aircraft Flight Control
Prof. James Forbes
5/14/2025 3:12:23 PM
Robust Control Analysis and Design Lecture 1: Review of SISO Stability Margins
Peter Seiler
2/26/2025 3:00:00 PM
Robust Control Analysis and Design Lecture 2: SISO Robust Control
Peter Seiler
2/26/2025 3:15:00 PM
Robust Control Analysis and Design Lecture 3: Multi-Loop Disk Margins
Dr. Peter Seiler
2/28/2025 3:30:00 PM
Robust Control Analysis and Design Lecture 4: Robust Stability With Unstructured Uncertainty
Peter Seiler
3/17/2025 5:27:14 PM
Robust Control Analysis and Design Lecture 5: Uncertainty Modeling
Peter Seiler
3/21/2025 1:25:46 PM
Robust Control Analysis and Design Lecture 6: Robust Performance and Structured Singular Value
Peter Seiler
4/3/2025 4:15:58 PM
Robust Control Analysis and Design Lecture 7: Robustness Analysis Examples Using Structured Singular Value
Peter Seiler
4/17/2025 4:37:32 PM
Robust Control Analysis and Design Lecture 8: Optimal Control
Peter Seiler
4/18/2025 2:57:42 PM
Robust Control Analysis and Design Lecture 9: Robust Synthesis with DK Iteration
Peter Seiler
5/2/2025 11:29:19 AM
Robust Control Analysis and Design: Loopshaping For Robust Performance
Prof. James Forbes
2/28/2025 4:15:00 PM
Robust Control Analysis and Design: Simultaneous Stabilization of an Unstable System
Prof. James Forbes
5/2/2025 12:16:32 PM
Robust Control Analysis and Design: Uncertainty Forms and Weights
Prof. James Forbes
3/21/2025 6:01:24 PM
Robust Control and Analysis Design Course: Hard Disk Drives
Peter Seiler
5/14/2025 12:42:05 PM
Spacecraft Design for Manual Control
Abstract:
The use of the Cooper-Harper rating scale to evaluate spacecraft handling qualities has been standard practice for many years. NASA procedural requirements for human-rating of spacecraft specify manual control capabilities and satisfactory ratings of handling qualities using the Cooper-Harper scale. However, unlike aircraft, little formal guidance exists to aid the spacecraft designer in achieving these satisfactory ratings once the design is sufficiently mature to allow formal handling evaluations. By that time it is often too late in the design process to make significant changes without incurring excessive cost and schedule impacts. Most research into spacecraft handling qualities has tended to focus on evaluation of specific point designs rather than the development of general purpose design guidelines.
This presentation gives an overview of manual control generally and a newly developed framework for development of specific design requirements to account for satisfactory handling qualities early in the spacecraft design process.
About the Speaker:
Dr. John Osborn-Hoff has over twenty years of experience working in the NASA manned spacecraft community as a flight controller, instructor, and engineer. His spacecraft development assignments have included work on Space Launch Initiative, Orbital Space Plane, Orion, Ares-1, Space Launch System, Exploration Upper Stage, Commercial Crew, and Human Landing System programs and projects, primarily focused on design integration, GN&C, and manual piloting.
He earned a doctorate in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 2018 with dissertation research focused on spacecraft design requirements to achieve satisfactory handling qualities.
Dr. John Osborn-Hoff
4/7/2021 6:00:00 PM
The Evolution of Digital Engineering: Future Visions for GNC Model-Based Design
This presentation offers a vision how digital engineering, including the careful use of AI, can meet the increased future expectations of higher autonomy, capability and complexity in space systems, including Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC). We discuss how digital engineering, incorporating a model-centric design approach, has the potential to increase both engineering efficiency and mission performance, and present the current state of digital engineering adoption and common limitations.
A roadmap for the future which addresses these limitations is explored. Within the digital engineering landscape, the presentation also tackles the role of adaptive systems and AI, which are slowly but surely creeping into our industry, and explores which applications are best suited for their adoption in the immediate future and beyond.
Ossi Saarela
1/19/2022 7:00:00 PM
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