![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/hdl-test-team-photo.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>The new lidar system is one of several sensors being developed as part of NASA\u2019s Safe & Precise Landing \u2013 Integrated Capabilities Evolution (SPLICE) Program<\/a>, a Johnson-managed cross-agency initiative under the Space Technology Mission Directorate to develop next-generation landing technologies for planetary exploration. SPLICE is an integrated descent and landing system composed of avionics, sensors, and algorithms that support specialized navigation, guidance, and image processing techniques. SPLICE is designed to enable landing in hard-to-reach and unknown areas that are of potentially high scientific interest.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The lidar system, which can map an area equivalent to two football fields in just two seconds, is a crucial program component. In real time and compensating for lander motion, it processes 15 million short pulses of laser light to quickly scan surfaces and create real-time, 3D maps of landing sites to support precision landing and hazard avoidance.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Those maps will be read by the SPLICE Descent and Landing Computer, a high-performance multicore computer processor unit that analyzes all SPLICE sensor data and determines the spacecraft\u2019s velocity, altitude, and terrain hazards. It also computes the hazards and determines a safe landing location. The computer was developed by the Avionics Systems Division at Johnson as a platform to test navigation, guidance, and flight software. It previously flew on Blue Origin\u2019s New Shepard booster rocket.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n For the field test at Kennedy, Johnson led test operations and provided avionics and guidance, navigation, and control support.\u00a0Engineers updated the computer\u2019s firmware and software to support command and data interfacing with the lidar system.\u00a0Team members from Johnson\u2019s Flight Mechanics branch also designed a simplified motion compensation algorithm and NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California contributed a hazard detection algorithm, both of which were added to the lidar software by Goddard. Support from NASA contractors Draper Laboratories and Jacobs Engineering played key roles in the test\u2019s success.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Primary flight test objectives were achieved on the first day of testing, allowing the\u00a0lidar team time to explore different settings and firmware updates to improve system performance.\u00a0The data confirmed the sensor\u2019s capability in a challenging, vibration-heavy environment, producing usable maps.\u00a0Preliminary review of the recorded sensor data shows excellent reconstruction of the hazard field terrain.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/a><\/figure>