Navigation for the new millennium: Autonomous navigation for Deep Space 1

The first flight of NASA's New Millennium Program, Deep Space 1, will include a new navigational technology: an autonomous optical navigation system. The DSI Navigation system will be the first use of autonomous navigation in deep space. The task for this system is to 1) perform interplanetary cruise orbit determination, using images of distant asteroids, 2) control and maintain the orbit of the spacecraft using the ion propulsion system (another technology never before applied to deep space) and conventional thrusters, 3) perform approach orbit determination and control using images of the science targets, 4) perform late knowledge updates of target position during close fast flybys in order to facilitate a high degree of quality data return from 2 targets: asteroid McAuliffe and comet West-Kohoutek-Ikemura. Additionally, an encounter with Mars will probably be performed with possibly a close flyby of one of the Martian moons, Phobos or Deimos. Several functional components are necessary to accomplish these tasks. These include picture planning and image processing, dynamical modeling and integration, planetary ephemeris and star catalog handling, orbit determination data filtering and estimation, maneuver estimation, spacecraft ephemeris updates and maintenance, and general interaction with the other onboard autonomous systems. These systems are described, as is the means of their operation onboard. Finally, performance statistics from trial runs of the system are given.