On-board Orbit Determination using Sun Sensor and Optical Navigation Camera for Deep-Space Missions

Abstract

On-board orbit determination (OD) using a Sun sensor and optical navigation camera (ONC) for autonomous navigation (AutoNav) is discussed in this paper. In low-Earth orbits, a global positioning system (GPS) is used for AutoNav. On the other hand, in deep space, the OD has been performed using range and range-rate (RARR), which is a traditional ground-tracking approach applying radio waves. RARR enables OD to have higher accuracy compared to other methods. However, such radio navigation has inevitable problems, such as the delay of radio waves, reduction in radio-wave strength and transmitter limitations. The influence of these problems becomes significant, especially for deep-space missions. Furthermore, it requires ground station staff to operate the spacecraft with full attention, which increases the operational cost considerably. Therefore there has been a growing interest in the AutoNav of the spacecraft in recent years because AutoNav can eliminate the aforementioned problems. The utilization of the AutoNav in deep space can reduce the complexity of operation at the ground station, and especially has a significant impact on reducing operational cost. This paper focuses on the configuration of observation objects and the sampling frequency for observation. Finally, as an example, the selection of observation and Earth-resonant trajectory are discussed.