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*Was going to put this in the Sci & Tech folder, but I think it's more appropriate here. Is from space.com's Astronotes [updated/column format, must copy and paste]. I did conduct a Search prior to posting; no results returned:
November 7
Navigation via Pulsars
Lost in space? No need to be given good results from a new study that looks at use of celestial sources – including distant pulsars – so space vehicles can precisely navigate in low-earth orbit and even through deep space.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has selected Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation in Boulder, Colorado to delve into the idea as part of its X-ray Source-based Navigation for Autonomous Position Determination (XNAV) program.
XNAV is designed to provide precision navigation of vehicles traveling in deep space within hundreds of meters. It is also designed to provide a back-up for the Global Positioning System (GPS) of satellites.
Ball Aerospace will conduct research and development of an autonomous position, attitude and time determination system using celestial sources in the X-ray band of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Also collaborating with Ball Aerospace on the initial XNAV work includes Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), the Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and
the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).[written by Leonard David]
Within hundreds of meters...such precision.
--Cindy
We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...
--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)
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Maybe a replacement for GPS, so we can spend money on better things, like HLLV.
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Uh, no. It is in no way a replacement for GPS for anything earth-based. Besides, GPS is being funded by the USAF, not NASA.
[i]"The power of accurate observation is often called cynicism by those that do not have it." - George Bernard Shaw[/i]
[i]The glass is at 50% of capacity[/i]
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Oh well. So much for that.
http://relativity.livingreviews.org/Art … rr-2005-7/
Binary and Millisecond Pulsars
Duncan R. Lorimer
University of Manchester
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Link given above refers to radio pulsars.
Weak signals, large radio telescopes 400 Mhz up to several Gig.
The proposed navigation system depends on counting X-Rays from pulsars.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-ray_pulsar
The several hundred meter accuracy,
while travelling beyond the range of GPS, to the nearest star, would be remarkeable.
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