The Station Explorer for X-ray Timing and Navigation Technology (SEXTANT) is a technology demonstration enhancement to the Neutron-star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) mission, a NASA Astrophysics Explorer Mission of Opportunity to the International Space Station, launched in June of 2017. In late 2017, SEXTANT successfully completed a first demonstration of in-space and autonomous X-ray pulsar navigation (XNAV). This form of navigation relies on processing faint signals from millisecond pulsars-rapidly rotating neutron stars that appear to pulsate in the X-ray band-and could potentially provide a GPS-like navigation capability applicable throughout the solar-system and beyond. In this work, we briefly review prior SEXTANT results and then present new results focusing on: making use of the high- flux but rotationally unstable Crab pulsar, and using XNAV to estimate position, velocity, and time in the presence of an imperfect local clock.
SEXTANT X-Ray Pulsar Navigation Demonstration: Additional On-Orbit Results
International Conference on Space Operations (Space Ops 2018) ; 2018 ; Marseille, France
2018-05-28
Aufsatz (Konferenz)
Keine Angabe
Englisch
SEXTANT X-ray Pulsar Navigation Demonstration: Additional On-Orbit Results (AIAA 2018-2538)
British Library Conference Proceedings | 2018
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