The current system for determining a spacecraft’s attitude in space requires several radio transmitters on the ground and star trackers on the spacecraft. The problem with this method is that the radio transmitters need to be used for other things as well, and star trackers can wear out.

Researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign propose a new method, and it uses pulsars. This method uses basic triangulation to determine the spacecraft’s rough location to within a few astronomical units, and a special algorithm narrows down that range by carefully looking at the unique signatures of different pulsars.

The team analyzed signatures of over 2,000 pulsars to generate this algorithm. This new method promises to increase spacecraft self-sufficiency by allowing it to determine its position with no outside information. Spacecraft autonomy is becoming more and more advanced. This work was published in the IEEE journal Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems.

More Information

UIUC press release

“Characterization of Candidate Solutions for X-Ray Pulsar Navigation,” Kevin Lohan and Zachary Putnam, 2022 February 22, IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems