In-orbit Demonstration of X-Ray Pulsar Navigation with the Insight-HXMT Satellite

Shi-Jie Zheng ,B Li,J L Qu,X Li,G Chen,R C Shang,J Guan,Y Chen,Q Zhang,T P Li,G Li,T Luo,X L Cao,N Sai,J Wang,G Q Liu,J K Deng,Y Zhang,X H Liang,X J Liu,J Zhang,C Z Liu,J Y Nie,Y Liu,Y Nang,S L Xiong,T Zhang,S Z Liu,C L Zou,W Hu,J Y Liao,G C Xiao,M X Fu,Y N Liu,G F Wang,Y P Xu,Y D Gu,W Z Zhang,J Jin,B B Wu,W Zhang,A M Zhang,Y S Wang,C K Li,H M Zhang,G H Gao,Y Huang,Y B Chen,L Chen,Y G Li,T X Chen,W B Wang,S N Zhang,Z L Zhang,C L Zhang,X F Lu,M S Li,W H Tao ,Haiqiang Jia ,Liming Song ,Wen Feng Li ,Zhi Chang ,Han–Wen Liu ,Yan Jin ,Junhua Ji ,Xiang-Yang Wen ,Mei‐Hwan Wu ,Yongzhai Du ,Faming Zhang ,Chengcheng Guo ,Linyin Yan ,Weichun Jiang ,Liang Sun ,Fangjun Lu ,Zhaojian Zhang ,Lian Tao ,Jiawei Yang ,Yuxuan Zhu ,Wei Cui ,Zhangjian Li ,Bin Meng ,You-Li Tuo ,Jianling Zhao ,S Jia ,Bo Lü ,Danxiang Han ,Min Gao ,He Gao ,Luhua Jiang ,Shimo Yang ,Yuping Gao ,Can Güngör ,G Ou ,Yanji Yang ,Ming-Yu Ge ,H Zhao ,Ying Tan ,Xiaofan Zhao ,He Xu ,Xiang Ma ,Yongwei Dong

doi:10.3847/1538-4365/ab3718

Abstract

In this work, we report the in-orbit demonstration of X-ray pulsar navigation with Insight-Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (Insight-HXMT), which was launched on Jun. 15th, 2017. The new pulsar navigation method 'Significance Enhancement of Pulse-profile with Orbit-dynamics' (SEPO) is adopted to determine the orbit with observations of only one pulsar. In this test, the Crab pulsar is chosen and observed by Insight-HXMT from Aug. 31th to Sept. 5th in 2017. Using the 5-day-long observation data, the orbit of Insight-HXMT is determined successfully with the three telescopes onboard - High Energy X-ray Telescope (HE), Medium Energy X-ray Telescope (ME) and Low Energy X-ray Telescope (LE) - respectively. Combining all the data, the position and velocity of the Insight-HXMT are pinpointed to within 10 km (3 sigma) and 10 m/s (3 sigma), respectively.

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