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Gary LaPook writes:

If I understand you correctly you will get the altitude of the
satellite by calculating or measuring the altitude of a star that it
passes nearby......Why not just use the altitude of the star in the
first place, kinda like normal celestial navigation?


gl

On Dec 6, 11:55 am, frankr...@HistoricalAtlas.net wrote:
> Apologies for drifting off-topic here...
>
> There's another way to do automatic navigation: you let the satellite find
> YOU. Ships at sea are easy to detect. A handful of satellites can track
> every vessel on the face of the Earth assuming they're emitting some radio
> noise (the electrical systems of any modern ship's engine produce enough
> radio noise). Then when you need your position, you call up the satellite
> and ask. And needless to say, you can ask it to tell you where your
> "friends" are, too. There have been reports of such systems in actual use
> for years. There are sets of satellites, supposedly operated by the US NRO,
> that travel together in small groups. It's a bit eery: you can see three
> little "stars" gliding across the sky together in a triangle a few degrees
> across if you know where and when to look (google "NOSS trios").
>
> Speaking of satellites, how about using them for small-craft navigation?
> And, no, not GPS satellites. I'm talking about visual observations of low
> orbit satellites. Satellite positions are as predictable as the Moon's, as
> long as you avoid objects which maneuver frequently, like the International
> Space Station. And if using a computer isn't cheating, then you can get a
> line of position by observing a satellite's position in the sky (I'm
> picturing tracking it with binoculars and looking for close approaches to
> moderately bright stars). If I observe a satellite that's 500 nautical miles
> above me, and if I can get its position relative to some star accurate to a
> tenth of a degree, which should be possible, then I can get a line of
> position accurate to about 1 nautical mile. If I have a rough DR position to
> start with, there shouldn't be any problem with mistaken satellite
> identities.
>
>  -FER
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