On Tue, Dec 25, 2018 at 1:21 PM Henry Spencer <hspencer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Mon, 24 Dec 2018, Ben Brockert wrote:
lightweight miniature star trackers, e.g. the Sinclair ST-16, are now very
good...
$120k, or if you want they'll throw in a baffle for an extra $20k.
A computer vision board with a camera and similar level of onboard
computation is $60. https://amzn.to/2RigPJk ...
Reusing that handy Jeff Greason quote: "If you think it's really easy and
we think it's very expensive, that might be because you have surprises
coming."
That said, the Sinclair star trackers do solve a somewhat harder problem,
since they're required to operate for a decade or more in hard vacuum over
a wide temperature range with significant radiation dose. For a few
minutes of rocket flight, you can be more relaxed about some things.
Especially if nobody's going to sue you if the star tracker fails.