Re: superhero space navigation

Leonard Erickson <shadow@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> >GPS wouldn't be a lot of use out beyond low orbit.  It really wouldn't
> >be needed out there anyway.  If they can find Earth at all, they could
> >get within a few hundred km of the desired location just by sight, and
> >then use GPS after getting closer.

> Well, if nothing else, I'd like an idea as to what a normal handheld
> GPS unit would *do* on a trip to low orbit.

   Normal GPS will work in low earth orbit, though your errors will
increase.
There are GPS units specially designed for LEO satellites that will give
you very precise readings, even at very high speeds.

   As you approach geosynchronous orbit, the GPS stops giving you sensible
numbers.  But except for the occasional mad-scientist-hollowed-asteroid-
turned-space-laboratory, there's nothing out there for a super to visit, 
anyway.

   You could carry inertial sensors.  They'd give a fairly precise
location 
no matter how far you went, if the super and the objects he is carrying
obey 
the laws of momentum.  (That's a big 'if'.)  And knowing your own location
isn't very helpful unless you have a map of where your destination planet
is, updated in real time.  But it'd be better than nothing.

....                                                                  ... 
Remus Shepherd <remus@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
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