Photometric and geometric methods for enhanced image-based spacecraft navigation

Abstract

Throughout the history of crewed and robotic spaceflight, one of the fundamental tasks has been the development of effective spacecraft navigation techniques which satisfy mission requirements. These techniques have employed many different schemes with which to measure key parameters for navigating the spacecraft, commonly using radiometric and optical measurements coupled with geometric relationships to effectively estimate the spacecraft's state. The advent of more advanced computers and digital cameras has allowed the development of techniques which can use on-board imagery for navigation, increasing both the versatility and autonomy of modern spacecraft. This work seeks to advance image-based spacecraft navigation by investigating photometric modelling to improve bearing measurements obtained from imagery, the efficacy of light flux in range determination, and angles-only localization techniques using known terrain features for effective position estimation and orbit determination using only images.