Aspects of the disclosure are directed to acquiring aligned geographic coordinates of a vertical position. In one aspect, a vertical navigation system includes a light source to generate a source beam; a beam splitter to generate a first and a second source references derived from the source beam; a hollow retroreflector to produce a first and a second vertical references derived from the first and the second source references; an attitude sensor to capture a plurality of reference stars and to measure a first set of angles for the first vertical reference and a second set of angles for the second vertical reference, the first set of angles and the second set of angles are relative to the plurality of reference stars; and a processor to produce the aligned geographical coordinates using the first set of angles, the second set of angles, a gravity vector measurement and a time signal.

The subject matter disclosed herein is generally directed towards systems and methods for estimating vehicle attitude information using position data of stars and astronomical objects in the sky. Considerable advantages may be realized by equipping vehicles with low-cost star trackers adequate for filtering images based on statistical-based techniques, which could provide a robust and reliable attitude determination. The methods described herein provide algorithms to reduce the amount of processing capacity and memory for finding stars and astronomical objects. In some instances, the provided systems and methods allow the prediction of the next location of the stars and/or other astronomical objects to enhance the search by looking for them at the predicted location. The algorithms may be applied in real-time and are suitable for movable platforms with limited resources such as satellites and spacecraft.

A system and method include generating environment data from skylight sensor data. The environment data includes a value of a geospatially dependent parameter associated with light received from a predetermined celestial light source. At least two of a compass direction of the predetermined celestial light source when the skylight sensor data was received, a time at which the skylight sensor data was received, or a geospatial coordinate at which the skylight sensor data was collected are received. At least one of the compass direction of the predetermined celestial light source when the skylight sensor data was received, the time at which the skylight sensor data was received, or the geospatial coordinate at which the skylight sensor data was collected is determined, at least in part, from the environment data.

Location may be determined in a way that does not primarily rely on jam-able or spoof-able techniques. For example, an apparatus may have multiple location-determining units, each unit having a different level of trust. One unit may have a first (e.g., highest) level of trust, a second such unit may have a second (e.g., medium) level of trust lower than the first level of trust, and a third such unit may have a third (e.g., lowest) level of trust lower than the first and second levels of trust. The apparatus may generally prefer to determine its location using the highest level of trust unit that is available at any given time.

Satellites having autonomously deployable solar arrays are disclosed. A disclosed example satellite includes a solar array, a sensor to detect that the satellite has exited a launch vehicle, a processor to enable ignition of squibs of a squib array based on the satellite exiting the launch vehicle, and a squib controller to control the ignition of the squibs based on a firing sequence of the squibs, where the squib controller is to vary the firing sequence to autonomously deploy the solar array.

This technology includes methods, non-transitory computer readable media, and pattern navigation aiding devices that obtain one or more images of a section of sky. Stars comprising at least one or more artificial stars in the one or more obtained images of the section of the sky that are in an image pattern that match above a set threshold at least one previously shared beacon pattern are identified. Navigational information from the identified image pattern with the at least one or more artificial stars that matches above the set threshold the at least one previously shared beacon pattern is determined and output to provide navigational assistance.

The present invention provides an innovative apparatus and method for onboard spacecraft location determination and navigation by employing observations of extrasolar planetary star systems. In one apparatus embodiment a gas absorption cell is placed between a sensor and the light from a reference star system with at least one exoplanet, such that the sensor can detect the spectrum through the gas absorption cell. Radial velocities can be calculated via Doppler Spectroscopy techniques and incorporated into a spacecraft navigation solution. Additional embodiments incorporate other spacecraft sensor or system data to derive a filtered navigation solution. The present invention can enable and enhance significant mission capabilities for future manned and unmanned space vehicles and missions.

A system and a method of determining an absolute position of a first vehicle can be used in restricted areas. The system performs operations of or the method includes receiving image data from a vision system mounted on a second vehicle, determining a first location of the second vehicle using at least positions of stars in the image data, providing the first location to the first vehicle, determining a first relative position between the first vehicle and the second vehicle using at least one signal communicated between the first vehicle and the second vehicle, and determining the absolute position using at least the relative location data and the first location.

Aspects of the disclosure are directed to acquiring aligned geographic coordinates of a vertical position. In one aspect, a vertical navigation system includes a light source to generate a source beam; a beam splitter to generate a first and a second source references derived from the source beam; a hollow retroreflector to produce a first and a second vertical references derived from the first and the second source references; an attitude sensor to capture a plurality of reference stars and to measure a first set of angles for the first vertical reference and a second set of angles for the second vertical reference, the first set of angles and the second set of angles are relative to the plurality of reference stars; and a processor to produce the aligned geographical coordinates using the first set of angles, the second set of angles, a gravity vector measurement and a time signal.

Satellites having autonomously deployable solar arrays are disclosed. A disclosed example satellite includes a solar array, a sensor to detect that the satellite has exited a launch vehicle, a processor to, based on the satellite exiting the launch vehicle, enable release of magnets or locks of an array, a release controller to control the release of the magnets or the locks of the array based on a release sequence to autonomously deploy the solar array, and a sequence analyzer to adapt the release sequence during execution of the release sequence, wherein adapting the release sequence includes changing an order in which the magnets or the locks of the array are released based on a degree to which the solar array is unfolded.