Just Use Relativity” is a Ground News article about StarNAV, a technology that uses the stars to navigate in space. The technology was developed by Paul McKee, Hoang Nguyen, Michael Kudenov, and John Christian. 

Albert Einstein’s theory of special relativity explains how space and time are linked. It also introduced the idea of warping space and time. Einstein later developed the theory of general relativity, which explains how massive objects distort the fabric of space-time. The theory of relativity postulates that gravity arises from the curvature of space-time caused by the presence of mass and energy.

This technique has been used before; however, it has had wide error bands when calculating a spacecraft’s instantaneous velocity. Typically, existing solutions would use a large telescope to measure a property known as an “inter-star angle” between two stars in a relatively narrow field of view precisely

One of the hardest things for many people to conceptualize when talking about how fast something is going is that they must ask, “Compared to what?” All motion only makes sense from a frame of reference, and many spacecraft traveling in the depths of the void lack any regular reference from which to understand how fast they’re going. There have been several different techniques to try to solve this problem, but one of the ones that have been in development the longest is StarNAV – a way to navigate in space using only the stars.

StarNAV is a way to navigate in space using only the stars. Technology developed by Paul McKee of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Hoang Nguyen and Michael Kudenov of North Carolina State, and John Christian of Georgia Tech.

StarNAV is a technique that uses the relativistic perturbation of starlight to navigate anywhere in the Solar System or beyond. It measures the change in inter-star angle due to stellar aberration to estimate vehicle velocity. These velocity estimates can then be used for navigation.

StarNAV is a method for inferring an observer’s velocity from measurements of starlight that have been perturbed by stellar aberration. This usually takes the form of measuring changes in inter-star angles as compared to a reference. 

StarNAV may allow a spacecraft to autonomously navigate anywhere in the Solar System (or beyond) using only passive observations of naturally occurring starlight

StarNAV is a novel architecture for navigating anywhere in the Solar System or beyond using the relativistic perturbation of starlight. The proposed StarNAV technique measures the change in inter-star angle due to stellar aberration to estimate vehicle velocity. These velocity estimates may be used for navigation

Stellar aberration is a phenomenon that causes stars to appear to move around their true position. This makes them seem displaced when in fact their position has not changed

Stellar aberration is caused by two factors: 

• The finite speed of light 
• The motion of the observer relative to the stars 

Stellar aberration is divided into three components: diurnal, annual, and secular. 

Stellar aberration is used today as an accurate method of determining Earth’s orbital velocity about the Sun. 

Bradley was the first person to accurately measure and attempt to explain the cause of stellar aberration. He used stellar aberration to calculate the relative speed of light

The technology developed by Paul McKee of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Hoang Nguyen and Michael Kudenov of North Carolina State, and John Christian of Georgia Tech is based on a specific feature of stars known as stellar aberration

Here are some ways celestial navigation works: 

• Use a star chart Find the circle of position of three stars. The point where the circles intersect is the location of the boat. 
• Use the North Star The North Star, also known as Polaris, appears to be stationary in the sky, aligned with the Earth’s rotation axis. This makes it a useful reference point for navigation. 
• Observe the direction a star moves If a star descends, you’re facing west. If it ascends, you’re facing east. If it moves to the left, you’re facing north. If it moves to the right, you’re facing south. 
• Use a sextant A sextant measures the angle between a celestial body and the horizon. By comparing this measurement with the known position of the celestial body, sailors can calculate their latitude.

Future space exploration missions require increased autonomy. This is especially true for navigation, where continued reliance on Earth-based resources is often a limiting factor in mission design and selection. In response to the need for autonomous navigation, this work introduces the StarNAV framework that may allow a spacecraft to autonomously navigate anywhere in the Solar System (or beyond) using only passive observations of naturally occurring starlight. Relativistic perturbations in the wavelength and direction of observed stars may be used to infer spacecraft velocity which, in turn, may be used for navigation

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