NASA’s Starling Mission Opens New Frontiers in Space Navigation
via nasa.gov
Short excerpt below. Read at the original source.
The Starling swarm’s extended mission tested GPS-independent navigation, using onboard star tracking for self-orbit determination and space object catalog updates. Credit: NASA/Daniel Rutter NASA’s Starling mission has marked another milestone in spacecraft autonomy by using a new system that determines a satellite’s position in orbit by referencing other objects in space, instead of relying on a navigational network. The FALCON (Fast Autonomous Lost-in-space Catalog-based Optical Navigation) technology demonstration is a step toward spacecraft being able […]