Pole Estimation and Optical Navigation Using Circle of Latitude Projections

Abstract

Images of both rotating celestial bodies (e.g., asteroids) and spheroidal planets with banded atmospheres (e.g., Jupiter) can contain features that are well-modeled as a circle of latitude (CoL). At large distances, the projections of these CoLs appear as ellipses in images collected by cameras or telescopes onboard exploration spacecraft. This work shows how CoL projections may be used to determine the pole orientation and covariance for a spinning asteroid. In the case of a known planet modeled as an oblate spheroid, it is shown how similar CoL projections may be used for spacecraft localization. These methods are developed using the principles of projective geometry. Numerical results are provided for simulated images of asteroid Bennu (for pole orientation) and of Jupiter (for spacecraft localization).