Chinese scientists test satellite positioning technology that can work independently in space
- Research team says probe managed to calculate its own location by using the X-ray from a small, distant star for reference
- Its margin of error was just 3.3km – more accurate than a similar Nasa experiment last year
Chinese scientists have successfully tested a satellite positioning technology called pulsar navigation, catching up to the United States, which was the first to do so last year.
Researchers with the Institute of High Energy Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing said on Thursday that a Chinese scientific satellite had managed to calculate its own position in space by using the X-ray emitted by a small, distant star for reference.
With a margin of error of just 3.3km (2 miles), the accuracy was an improvement of more than 30 per cent on a similar Nasa experiment last year, which had a 5km margin of error.
Many nations have joined the race to develop new satellite positioning and navigation systems that can work independently in space without the need for reference signals from ground stations, but none are yet ready for use in the field.
There are many challenges, including developing detectors with extremely high sensitivity that can pick up weak signals from tiny stars thousands of light years away.
China’s Insight-HXMT satellite and Nasa’s NICER/SEXTANT instrument, which is mounted on the International Space Station, are both aimed at neutron stars that emit pulses of electromagnetic radiation with a regularity that makes these pulsars more stable than an atomic clock for timekeeping.