Absolute GPS (Global Positioning System) navigation techniques are adaptable in the operational and experimental phases of most missions; GPS autonomous navigation allows the use of independent procedures to perform many onboard operations without any ground command. The dedicated ground segment can be reduced and the experimental data can be transmitted to the ground station during short period of visibility. Differential GPS operations greatly reduce the effects of selective availability, ionosphere, troposphere and other slow varying errors for users both in a local area around a reference station and between two users performing their relative navigation by differencing their absolute measurements. This technique can profitably be used during specific periods such as reentry phase or rendezvous operations due to the enhanced performances achievable. The results of studies on the usability of the GPS for the relative navigation between two space vehicles and on trajectory determination of a reentry vehicle are presented.
GPS Differential Navigation Techniques for Carina Reentry and Spacecraft Rendezvous Operations
1991
8 pages
Report
No indication
English
Developmental Tests for the Carina Reentry Vehicle
NTIS | 1990
|Carina: A Reentry Vehicle for Microgravity Experiments
NTIS | 1989
|Autonomous Spacecraft Navigation and Rendezvous Using GPS
SAE Technical Papers | 1994
|