Discovery brings autonomous interplanetary navigation closer to reality

An accurate method for spacecraft navigation takes a leap forward today as the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and the University of Leicester publish a paper that reveals a spacecraft's position in space in the direction of a particular pulsar can be calculated autonomously, using a small X-ray telescope on board the craft, to an accuracy of 2 km. The method uses X-rays emitted from pulsars, which can be used to work out the position of a craft in space in 3-D to an accuracy of 30 km at the ...