Deep Space Navigation Augmentation Using Variable Celestial X-Ray Sources

Suneel I. Sheikh, John E. Hanson, John Collins, Paul Graven

Abstract:	The accurate determination of navigation solutions for deep space exploration spacecraft is a crucial element of mission operation. These solutions are necessary to ensure successful arrival at the intended destination, to maintain continuous communication between Earth tracking stations and the remote vehicle, and for certain missions to monitor the position of the vehicle during its lifetime. The NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) has provided this capability for numerous missions beyond the Earth-Moon system. As more missions are planned and DSN availability becomes constrained, additional methods to maintain accurate navigation solutions, which would reduce the reliance on continuous vehicle tracking and monitoring, become attractive. The development of space vehicle navigation using variable celestial X-ray sources could potentially provide this additional capability, by providing supplementary external measurements that can be processed as part of the orbit determination algorithm in the mission control centers. This new technique also has the potential of providing autonomous navigation abilities via computation onboard the vehicle. These solutions can be used directly for guidance and control. Overviews of the DSN system and the X-ray navigation technology are provided. The development of an integrated navigation system, including an extended Kalman filter that incorporates the spacecraft dynamics and measurements from both types of systems is presented. A simulation is presented that has been produced to investigate the potential of DSN location measurements that are augmented with X-ray source range measurements. Performance capabilities of each separate system and a combined system are provided.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 2009 International Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation January 26 - 28, 2009 Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel Anaheim, CA
Pages:	34 - 48
Cite this article:	Sheikh, Suneel I., Hanson, John E., Collins, John, Graven, Paul, "Deep Space Navigation Augmentation Using Variable Celestial X-Ray Sources," Proceedings of the 2009 International Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation, Anaheim, CA, January 2009, pp. 34-48.
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