The proposed Exoplanet Star Tracker hardware would improve future navigation systems for NASA manned or unmanned space platforms. Primary autonomous navigation could be incorporated into spacecraft designed for geostationary, elliptical or deep space orbits including missions to the Moon, comets, asteroids, Libration points and Mars. Resource demands on DSN would be decreased. Secondary navigation in low and medium Earth orbits would be available when primary GPS navigation is lost.
The proposed Exoplanet Star Tracker hardware would improve future navigation systems for non-NASA users such as the military, non-profit research institutions, universities and commercial satellite builders. Independent navigation in low and medium Earth orbits would be available when primary GPS navigation is unavailable. In 2010, satellite manufacturing revenues were $10.8 billion dollars.
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