You could in fact make a location system, similar to GPS. But it would need to be deployed and take up a lot of weight. The kind of INS system you would need to

You could in fact make a location system, similar to GPS. But it would need to be deployed and take up a lot of weight. The kind of INS system you would need to use instead of a camera, without location stations like GPS satellites, would be way too heavy and expensive. In addition, aligning them requires knowing the current location and heading of the drone before it takes off, usually on a level surface. Most drones on Earth use GPS to account for drift from their onboard accelerometers. A great example of how hard INS navigation is would be the SR-71 celestial INS navigation system R2-D2. The SR-71 would use astronomical observation in order to update it's INS navigation periodically, similar to a sailing ship at sea. Modern laser gyros are aligned automatically using GPS. However, on military aircraft, alignment can still be achieved using manual input or datalink. https://theaviationgeekclub.com/the-sr-71-astroinertial-navigation-system-aka-r2-d2-was-crucial-in-blackbird-mission-heres-why/ https://theaviationgeekclub.com/the-sr-71-astroinertial-navi...