A new autonomous celestial navigation method for the lunar rover

A secure and autonomous navigation system is needed for the lunar rover in future lunar missions in case of emergencies. Celestial navigation is a very attractive solution for long distance navigation on the Moon without the need of ground navigation aids. It only uses star altitudes, which are measured by a high accuracy star sensor and inertial measurement unit (IMU) to estimate the position of the rover. The navigational accuracy of this method depends largely on the accuracy of measurements, so the measurement errors have a great impact on the navigational performance. A new autonomous celestial navigation method for the lunar rover is presented in this paper, which uses the augmented state unscented particle filter (ASUPF) to deal with the systematic error and random error in the measurements. The validity and feasibility of this new method is tested and examined by the hardware-in-loop test. A position estimation error within 60 m is obtained. Compared to the conventional method, this method shows better navigation performance and higher adaptability to these measurement errors.