China Launches World's First Pulsar Navigation Satellite (ibtimes.com)

hackingbear writes: After launching the world's first quantum communication satellite this year, China today successfully launched the world's first pulsar-based navigation satellite (Warning: may be paywalled, alternate source), which will conduct in-orbit experiments using pulsar detectors to demonstrate new technologies. The X-ray pulsar navigation satellite XPNAV-1 was sent skyward at 7:42 AM (local time) atop a Long March 11 solid-fueled rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China's northwest. China's new system is expected to be a significant improvement over the earth-based systems currently used by spacecraft as it would eliminate the time delay with sending signals back to Earth and processing.

Comments

Re:Eliminate the time delay?

[dinfinity]

FTA:
"The X-ray pulsar captures X-ray signals emitted from pulsars. By mapping those signals, they can be used to determine spacecraft location in deep space, which will eliminate the hours-long delays incurred in using ground-based navigation like the Deep Space Network and European Space Tracking network." (my emphasis)

Re:Editors why can't you write a decent summary

[Solandri]

The more interesting aspect of this is that pulsars are effectively an interstellar GPS. If we ever become a space-faring race, they're going to be crucial for interstellar navigation. The beam a pulsar emits from its poles is highly directional, so sweeps out the surface of a cone in space as the pulsar spins. As you travel through space, your "home" pulsars will fade out of view while new ones become visible. In that way, you can use the signal from 3 known pulsars to fix your location to a certain section of space (intersection of three cones). The more pulsars you can see, the more accurately you can refine your location.