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Anyone know if modern military aircraft have something similar? I imagine it would be even cheaper and easier to do these days given the processors and cameras
by hangonhn 3y ago
Anyone know if modern military aircraft have something similar? I imagine it would be even cheaper and easier to do these days given the processors and cameras we now have. Seems like a good backup to have.
- aidenn0 3y agoAstronomically corrected INS[1] is definitely still a thing in aerospace in general. I have no knowledge of whether or not they are in modern military aircraft though. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inertial_navigation_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inertial_navigation_system
- colechristensen 3y agoStill used in spacecraft, a vendor: https://www.ball.com/aerospace/capabilities/technologies-components/star-trackers https://www.ball.com/aerospace/capabilities/technologies-com... What’s actually on aircraft tends to be classified.
- hangonhn 3y agoIt's wild that they're also a household name in the form of mason jars.
- shrubble 3y agoAnd also aluminum cans. For a while, the jars and cans side of the business made money while Ball Aerospace was kept around for nostalgia.
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- blamazon 3y agoAnd for some, the Ball State University. [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_State_University https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_State_University
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- nvy 3y agoFormer military aerospace engineer here. In my opinion it would only be worth it on long range strategic bombers such as the B-52. Fighters don't have the legs to fly far enough that celestial navigation becomes worth the added complexity. For other air mobility platforms like the C-130 or C-17 in my experience they do not include these features, as GPS, INS, and regular old "ask ATC for a vector" are usually good enough. There are ongoing experiments with magnetic and other forms of navigation, some of which are classified, but I'm a civilian now so I don't know any specifics.
- fellowniusmonk 3y agoIs one of them dead reckoning using polarized light the way bees do?
- nvy 3y agoDead reckoning using the pilot's ego as a guide.
- taway_6PplYu5 3y agoKnew an old guy who was a navigator in C-130's back in the late 1960s. He used celestial navigation. You are probably right that this went away sometime in the 1970s. Damn, now I'm feeling old. I miss the stars.
- nvy 3y agoYour friend probably looked out the skylight and actually oriented himself on the stars' positions. I'm saying something different, which is that unlike the SR-71, the C-130 didn't and doesn't have an instrument that scans the sky and automatically determines where it is based on the constellations it can see.
- gte525u 3y agoIn space they still use similar methods. A different division of a company I used to work for built star trackers for satellites.
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- the_biot 3y agoI think we're seeing similar, or equivalent, technology being used in Ukraine right now. The Russians routinely jam GPS frequencies and have been doing so for years/decades (one of the few things the Russian military is considered good at). Yet we see Ukraine doing precision strikes not only with long-range missiles, but also with all kinds of drones.