Solar System Positioning System

Konstantin Penanen and Talso Chui

Abstract:	Power-rich spacecraft envisioned in Prometheus initiative open up possibilities for long-range high-rate communication. A constellation of spacecraft on orbits several A.U. from the Sun, equipped with laser transponders and precise clocks can be configured to measure their mutual distances to within few cm. High on-board power can create substantial non-inertial contribution to the spacecraft trajectory. We propose to alleviate this contribution by employing secondary ranging to a passive daughter spacecraft. Such constellation can form the basis of a navigation system capable of providing position information anywhere in the solar system with similar accuracy. Apart from obvious Solar System exploration implications, this system can provide robust reference for GPS and its successors.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 18th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2005) September 13 - 16, 2005 Long Beach Convention Center Long Beach, CA
Pages:	1728 - 1731
Cite this article:	Penanen, Konstantin, Chui, Talso, "Solar System Positioning System," Proceedings of the 18th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2005), Long Beach, CA, September 2005, pp. 1728-1731.
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