ION Technical Content
Space Applications
| Abstract: | Navigation applications in space appear ready to burgeon in disparate fields: point positioning for autonomous navigation, relative positioning and rendezvous operations, integrated systems, e.g., INS/GPS, time transfer, attitude determination, highly precise orbit determination, and the use of navigation signals to probe the physical characteristics of the transmission medium itself. Although GPS plays a dominant role in these applications, it is by no means the only space navigation technique available today, viz., DORIS and PRARE. I will briefly summarize the status of these European tracking systems. In the case of GPS, a number of different flight receivers will soon be commercially available. A noteworthy product development will lead to a two-tiered class of GPS flight receivers: 1) relatively low-cost flight receivers for missions where higher risk is acceptable, and 2) highly reliable and long-life flight receivers for missions where the navigation functions are not only critical to mission success, but the loss of the mission would be considered an economic catastrophic. There can be a tenfold difference in costs for these two flight receiver approaches because of the high costs associated with the use of space-rated parts and with the enhanced integration, testing and documentation activities required for highly reliable space systems. Some of the more exciting prospects for use of GPS in space involve scientific applications. The GPS is used either indirectly to support positioning of space platforms carrying other remote sensing systems, e.g., an altimeter or a SAR, or directly in a remote sensing context. TOPEX/Poseidon falls in the first category, as will also other planned and/or proposed missions such as GPS/MET, which will probe the Earth’s ionosphere and atmosphere, and GAMES, a proposed mission that will recover an improved geopotential model. |
| Published in: |
Proceedings of the 1994 National Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation January 24 - 26, 1994 Catamaran Resort Hotel San Diego, CA |
| Pages: | 15 - 15 |
| Cite this article: | Melbourne, W. G., "Space Applications," Proceedings of the 1994 National Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation, San Diego, CA, January 1994, pp. 15-15. |
| Full Paper: |
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