A method for tracking and detecting x-ray pulsars

Abstract

The invention provides a method for tracking and detecting an X-ray pulsar. The method comprises the following steps: 1. mounting a detector onto a posture adjustment device and fixing the posture adjustment device to a spacecraft; 2. inputting an initial position parameter or a relative position parameter of the detector into a spaceborne computer; 3. selecting a tracking and detecting mode, adjusting a posture angle of the posture adjustment device according to a specific position of the pulsar, and tracking the pulsar. According to the tracking and detecting method, the purpose of actively tracking and autonomously detecting the X-ray pulsar is achieved, the method is an innovative design in the field of navigational positioning, multiple detection modes such as a strip detection mode, a pointing tracking and detecting mode and an autonomous tracking and detecting mode can be achieved, the work performance of the detector is greatly improved, a space region can be subjected to large-range scanning, a target pulsar can be acquired and tracked in high-precision and real-time manners, a high-quality pulsar signal is ensured, and the data collection efficiency is remarkably improved.

Description

technical field [0001] The invention relates to a method for tracking and detecting an X-ray pulsar, in particular to a method for tracking and detecting a pulsar capable of realizing efficient and precise navigation and positioning of a spacecraft, and belongs to the technical field of aerospace. Background technique [0002] Pulsars are distant celestial bodies outside the solar system, and their position coordinates form a high-precision inertial reference system just like a stellar catalog. Pulsars emit stable pulse signals at a certain frequency, and their long-term stability is better than that of the most stable cesium atomic clock on Earth. Pulsars can provide excellent space and time references, and are excellent natural navigation beacons for space vehicles. In 1981, Chester and Butman of the Institute of Communications Systems of the United States proposed the concept of using pulsar X-ray sources for spacecraft navigation, which opened a new development directio...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

The traditional way of capturing X-ray pulsars is to carry a detector on the spacecraft (such as figure 1 As shown), the orbital maneuvering of the spacecraft propulsion system is used to achieve the pointing of the target pulsar, which not only wastes fuel and energy, but also takes a long time for the entire capture cycle, limited capture area, and low capture efficiency

However, a detector can only observe one pulsar at a certain moment, and when capturing more than one pulsar, it is more difficult for a single detector to capture

If only one detector is fixedly mounted on the spacecraft, due to the poor geometric structure of single-satellite orbit determination, the method of navigation and positioning with a single detector cannot achieve good positioning accuracy

[0004] At the same time, since the current research on X-ray pulsar navigation detectors is still in its infancy, various technologies are not very mature, resulting in expensive development costs of X-ray detectors

Therefore, the method of producing and carrying multiple X-ray detectors on the same spacecraft (such as figure 2 As shown), although the capture range can be increased, this method will not only increase the load cost of the project, but also double the test cost of the whole machine and a single machine, and carrying multiple detector loads will greatly increase the control Complexity of the system and difficulty of implementation

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