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Subject: Re: astrocompass still in use
From: Robert Eno (enoid@XXX.XXX)
Date: Thu Sep 26 2002 - 21:51:47 EDT
Thankyou very much for the most interesting story.
Whatever happened to the concept of astro-trackers? It seems to me, with
today's microchip technology, this device could be much improved and reduced
considerably in size.
At one time or another, we have all discussed the concept of a
self-contained back up system to GPS. It appears to me that an astro-tracker
would be an excellent device to fit this bill. Notwithstanding that it is
another "black box".
It kind of reminds me of a sextant that was described on page 158 of Bruce
Bauer's "The Sextant Handbook". The sextant described is called a "Celnav"
and is pretty much a hand-held, modified version of the astro-tracker. Does
anyone on the list know what happened with regard to its development?
Has GPS pretty much stifled the development of any other method of position
fixing?
----- Original Message -----
From: Dan Allen <danallen46@XXX.XXX>
To: <NAVIGATION-L@XXX.XXX>
Sent: Thursday, September 26, 2002 12:24 AM
Subject: Re: astrocompass still in use
>
> The SR-71 Blackbird also had a very sophisticated star tracker. Here
> is an extract from "SR-71 Revealed, the Inside Story", by Richard H.
> Graham, pages 65-68. Richard Graham was an SR-71 pilot for many years.
> This is his own description of the system.
>
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