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arXiv:1507.03576 [astro-ph.HE]AbstractReferencesReviewsResources

On the Possibility of Improving the Orbits of Satellites Based on Observations of Isolated X-ray Pulsars

M. G. Revnivtsev, O. E. Gadzhily, A. A. Lutovinov, S. V. Molkov, V. A. Arefiev, M. N. Pavlinsky, A. G. Tuchin

Published 2015-07-12Version 1

At present, there is a great worldwide interest in the development of technologies that allow information about the X-ray emission from pulsating cosmic sources to be used to obtain navigation solutions for deep-space spacecraft. In this paper, we illustrate the technique for determining the spatial position of a spacecraft based on the already existing data from the RXTE X-ray space observatory. We show that the spacecraft position toward the Crab pulsar can be determined using an X-ray detector with an effective area of about 0.6 sq.m in the energy range 3-15 keV with an accuracy up to 730 m in a signal integration time of 1000 s. Extending the energy range to 1 keV (the efficiency of the RXTE/PCA spectrometer decreases dramatically at energies below 3 keV) will allow a spacecraft position accuracy of 400-450 m to be achieved at the same effective area and up to 300-350 m when using detectors with an effective area of ~1 sq.m in the energy range 1-10 keV.

Comments: 5 pages, 5 figures, will be published in Astronomy Letters, 2015, V.41, N.8, P.450-455
Categories: astro-ph.HE, astro-ph.IM
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