Spacecraft navigation can be performed without computers
the verdict
SUPPORTED
the evidence backs this
refutedsupported
the weight of evidence
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AS REPORTEDno primary record reached; this is what the reporting says
Evidence indicates that spacecraft navigation can indeed be performed manually using mechanical aids like sextants and slide rules, as demonstrated by historical backup navigation methods used during Apollo missions.
Crew-Aided Autonomous Navigation - NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
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Crew-Aided Autonomous NavigationA sextant provides manual capability to perform star/planet-limb sightings and offers a cheap, simple, robust backup navigation source for exploration missions independent from the ground. Sextant sightings from spacecraft were first exercised in Gemini and flew as the lost-communication backup for all Apollo missions. This study characterized error sources of navigation-grade sextants for feasibility of taking star and planetary limb sightings from inside a spacecraft. A series of similar studies was performed in the early/mid-1960s in preparation for Apollo missions. This study modernized and updated those findings in addition to showing feasibility using Linear Covariance analysis techniques. The human eyeball is a remarkable piece of optical equipment and provides many advantages over camera-based sy
# Is it possible to navigate space travel with no computer?
Tags: launch, orbit, landing, navigation, flight-control
- Score: 11
- Views: 1853
- Answers: 5
- Answered: yes
- Asked by: Muze (1 rep)
- Asked: 2018-11-13
- Edited: 2018-11-15
- Site: space
## Question
From launch to land could a person travel in space with only mechanical devices like a sextant? With enough experience what would be the minimum devices needed? Which vehicle currently would be easier to fly this way?
## Answers
### Answer by Nightrider (score: 5 [ACCEPTED])
Depends on that do we call a "computer". Would a slide rule count? This extremely simple, hand held device can do multiplication, division, and also functions such as exponents, roots, logarithms and trigonometry. Some included specialized features for aviators. Or may I bring my Curta into spacecraft? It also has been highly favored by commercial and general-aviation pilots. Such simple, mechanical devices would make work of human much easier and, I think, possible.
Where the time is critical, it may often be possible to use prepared plans and pre-computed tables for adjustment. Where errors are critical, three or more humans can work in para
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This check searched the claim as stated. It did not run a separate search for evidence against it.