The ability to fly atomic clocks on GPS satellites has profoundly defined the capabilities and limitations of GPS in near-Earth applications. It is likely that future infrastructure for Lunar and Mars applications will be constrained by financial factors. The development of a low cost, small, high performance space clock--or ultrahigh performance space clocks--could revolutionize and drive the entire approach to GPS-like systems at the Moon (or Mars), and possibly even change the future of GPS at Earth. Many system trade studies are required. The performance of future GPS-like tracking systems at the Moon or Mars will depend critically on clock performance, availability of inertial sensors, and constellation coverage. Example: present-day GPS carry 10(exp -13) clocks and require several updates per day. With 10(exp -15) clocks, a constellation at Mars could operate autonomously with updates just once per month. Use of GPS tracking at the Moon should be evaluated in a technical study.
Applications of Clocks to Space Navigation & 'Planetary GPS'
2004
20 pages
Report
Keine Angabe
Englisch
Applications of advanced clocks for space navigation, and communication
Tema Archiv | 1998
|Applications of Advanced Clocks for Space Navigation and Communication
British Library Conference Proceedings | 1998
|British Library Conference Proceedings | 2006
|