3 ms·
That makes me wonder: how is it possible to even determine what the correction should be? Space is vast, how do they determine the position of a microscopic ves
by rhn_mk1 6y ago
That makes me wonder: how is it possible to even determine what the correction should be? Space is vast, how do they determine the position of a microscopic vessel precisely enough to know how much to burn?
- 0xffff2 6y agoThe primary instrument is probably a star tracker. It's possible to position yourself within the galaxy to a very high degree of accuracy by looking at changes in relative position of stars and planets which have a known "position" (really orbits).
- dnautics 6y agoMultiple correction burns along the way. For equivalent burns, the later along the trajectory the burn, the smaller its net effect on final position. So it's a series of increasingly better approximations. Try it in ksp. It's quite illuminating to plan your burns and see their effect graphically and build an intuition for celestial mechanics and astrogation.