The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 23, 2003
Filed:
May. 01, 2002
Yanping Guo, Silver Spring, MD (US);
The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for autonomous navigation for deep space missions using the sun as the reference body and determining the spacecraft orbit based on observations made on the sun using onboard instruments. Two types of observation data, the direction of the spacecraft relative to the sun as a function of time and the optical Doppler shift due to the motion of the spacecraft relative to the sun, can be used for the spacecraft orbit determination. A dual imaging system which functions as a sun imager taking images of the sun against star backgrounds during the cruise phase and as a regular optical imager taking pictures of the targeting planetary body during the approaching phase is also described.