U.S. Space Shuttle: Integrated GPS Navigation Capability

Peter M. Kachmar, William Chu, Peter Neirinckx, Moises Montez

Abstract:	Integration of a GPS navigation capability for the U.S. Space Shuttle is currently under development by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The planned phase out of the TACAN navigation stations by the U.S. Military. is the primary motivating factor in providing the Shuttle with this capability. TACAN stations are currently the primary Shuttle Entry navigation aid, from post blackout to final approach. For final approach to touchdown, the Microwave Scanning Beam Landing System (MSBLS) is the primary navaid. It is during the post blackout to final approach mission phase that GPS will be required An integrated GPS navigation capability for the Shuttle Entry mission phase was investigated. Several integrated system designs were considered, ranging from augmenting the Shuttle entry navigation filters to process GPS measurements, to processing state vector outputs from the receiver. This paper will discuss the proposed GPS system design, operation. Expected guidance and navigation performance for the on-orbit and entry mission phases is also shown and is contrasted with that of the current Shuttle navigation system performance. The integrated design developed provides not only a GPS navigation capability for entry but for all Shuttle mission phases: Ascent, Return-to-Launch site aborts, On-orbit Coast, Rendezvous and Entry through Landing. The design will be incorporated into the Shuttle navigation system in several phases The integrated GPS system design presented in this paper has been formally submitted to the Shuttle Avionics Software Control Board for implementation in the onboard Shuttle General Purpose Computers (GPCs) and is currently being reviewed by the NASA GPS community.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 6th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1993) September 22 - 24, 1993 Salt Palace Convention Center Salt Lake City, UT
Pages:	313 - 326
Cite this article:	Kachmar, Peter M., Chu, William, Neirinckx, Peter, Montez, Moises, "U.S. Space Shuttle: Integrated GPS Navigation Capability," Proceedings of the 6th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1993), Salt Lake City, UT, September 1993, pp. 313-326.
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