The ability to accurately navigate spacecraft through the vast distances of space is critical for the success of deep space science and exploration missions. To achieve this, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center has developed advanced optical navigation technology called the Goddard Interplanetary Navigation Technology (Giant).
Overview of Giant
Giant is an integrated software system designed specifically for optical navigation of spacecraft. It provides a suite of tools and algorithms to process images taken by cameras on board the spacecraft to determine its precise position, orientation and trajectory as it journeys through space.
The key capability Giant enables is autonomous optical navigation. By processing images of solar system bodies like planets, moons and asteroids, Giant allows the spacecraft to navigate independently without relying on tracking from Earth. This reduces load on NASA’s Deep Space Network and enables exploration of more distant destinations not always in view of Earth ground stations.
Giant has been developed over many years at Goddard and has extensive flight heritage.
Technical Capabilities
At its core, Giant is an image processing and computer vision system specialized for space navigation. It incorporates a range of advanced algorithms that analyze images to extract key geometric and visual features. These are then correlated to an onboard catalog of reference maps to determine the precise position and orientation of the spacecraft relative to the imaged body.
Some of the main technical capabilities of Giant include:
- Camera calibration – accurately models optical camera properties like focal length, distortion
- Attitude estimation – determines spacecraft orientation from visual features
- Landmark tracking – identifies known surface features for position fixes
- Orbit determination – calculates trajectory parameters from optical data
- Hazard detection – maps terrain to identify safe landing or sampling zones
- Body shape modeling – creates 3D maps of irregularly shaped bodies like asteroids
Giant also incorporates specialized image planning capabilities to enable autonomous operation. It can determine when and where to point the camera to get the necessary imagery for navigation solutions as the spacecraft travels through space.
The highly modular architecture of Giant allows new algorithms and methods to be readily integrated. This extensibility allows it to leverage state-of-the-art computer vision techniques to continually improve performance and capabilities.
Heritage and Applications
Giant originated from Goddard’s long history developing systems for optical navigation dating back to the 1970s. Early successes included the Voyager missions to the outer planets and Cassini’s tour of the Saturn system.
Most recently, Giant formed the backbone of the OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission’s independent navigation system. By autonomously tracking the asteroid Bennu’s surface features in images, it enabled the spacecraft to precisely target the sample collection site without reliance on Earth tracking.
Looking ahead, Giant will support a range of exciting new missions:
- Psyche – the first mission to a metal-rich asteroid that may be the exposed core of a planet
- Janus – two spacecraft that will study binary asteroid system Didymos and its moon
- Europa Clipper – detailed reconnaissance of Jupiter’s ocean moon Europa
- Dragonfly – rotorcraft lander to explore Saturn’s moon Titan
Continued development of Giant will enable not just independent navigation but potentially completely autonomous exploration of destinations across the solar system. Its combination of technical capability and flight heritage establish Giant as a critical technology for future deep space missions.
