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CEAS EuroGNC 2026

Development and Validation of Enabling Guidance and Control Technologies for Smart Launchers
João P. Belfo GNC Engineer, DEIMOS Engenharia SA, GNC/AOCS Competence Center, 1070-061, Lisbon, Portugal.
Pedro Guerreiro GNC Engineer, DEIMOS Engenharia SA, GNC/AOCS Competence Center, 1070-061, Lisbon, Portugal.
Bruno Ribeiro GNC Engineer, DEIMOS Engenharia SA, GNC/AOCS Competence Center, 1070-061, Lisbon, Portugal.
Afonso Botelho GNC Engineer, DEIMOS Engenharia SA, GNC/AOCS Competence Center, 1070-061, Lisbon, Portugal.
G. Videira GNC Engineer, DEIMOS Engenharia SA, GNC/AOCS Competence Center, 1070-061, Lisbon, Portugal.
J. Vasconcelos Head of GNC/AOCS Competence Center, DEIMOS Engenharia SA, 1070-061, Lisbon, Portugal.
P. Rosa Head of Flight Segment, DEIMOS Engenharia SA, 1070-061, Lisbon, Portugal.
Adolfo D. Silva System Engineer, Orbex Space, UK.
Aitor R. Gomez Postdoc, Section of Automation & Control, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark.
Jakob Stoustrup Professor, Section of Automation & Control, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark.
P. Simplício GNC Engineer, European Space Agency, ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands.
M. Casasco Head of GNC Systems Architecture Section, European Space Agency, ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
The project SURE (Smart Launchers - Autonomous MVM and Monitoring Systems for Safe and Adaptable GNC System) focused on the development of smart launcher enabling technologies that pave the way for improved launcher robustness, reliability, safety and commercial application. This paper presents three innovative solutions derived in the project, in the areas of Guidance, Robust Control, and Safety, describing the principles of each one and highlighting the results achieved in high-fidelity validation, with a higher focus on the guidance topic. The real-time optimized guidance allows a launcher to autonomously update its trajectory, based on a tailored first-order solver xPIPG, shown to be computationally more efficient than the standard ECOS. A robust control architecture with a wind disturbance observer and a load relief controller is shown to successfully minimize the load and the drift rate error, allowing for wider launch windows, with a solution that relies only on an engineering design that does not require any additional sensor or other hardware. A robust safety control methodology is also presented, employing Control Barrier Functions, ensuring that the vehicle remains within drift bounds and attitude errors. The proposed technologies are validated in high-fidelity Model-in-the-Loop (MIL) and also Software-in-the-Loop (SIL), achieving a high degree of representativity and suitability for future adoption in real applications. Additional developments, such as estimation of flexible modes, are also proposed.
Keywords: Safe and Adaptable GNC; Smart Launcher; Onboard Guidance; Robust Wind Observer; Load Relief; Safety Filter; Control Barrier Function
 View PDF CEAS-GNC-2026-047 doi: 10.82124/CEAS-GNC-2026-047


João P. Belfo, Pedro Guerreiro, Bruno Ribeiro, Afonso Botelho, G. Videira, J. Vasconcelos, P. Rosa, Adolfo D. Silva, Aitor R. Gomez, Jakob Stoustrup, P. Simplício, M. Casasco: Development and Validation of Enabling Guidance and Control Technologies for Smart Launchers. Proceedings of the 2026 CEAS EuroGNC conference. Madrid, Spain. May 2026. doi: 10.82124/CEAS-GNC-2026-047.
BibTeX entry (UTF-8):

@Incollection{CEAS-GNC-2026-047,
    author = {Belfo, João P. and Guerreiro, Pedro and Ribeiro, Bruno and Botelho, Afonso and Videira, G. and Vasconcelos, J. and Rosa, P. and Silva, Adolfo D. and Gomez, Aitor R. and Stoustrup, Jakob and Simplício, P. and Casasco, M.},
    title = {Development and Validation of Enabling Guidance and Control Technologies for Smart Launchers},
    booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2026 {CEAS EuroGNC} conference},
    address = {Madrid, Spain},
    month = may,
    year = {2026},
    doi = {10.82124/CEAS-GNC-2026-047}
}