Introduction
Pulsars are high-speed rotation neutron stars, with extremely stable periodicity,
thereby known as the most stable clocks in nature. With the X-ray photons radiated
from the pulsars as natural beacons, the spacecrafts can be determined their orbit,
time and attitude parameters, so as to achieve autonomous navigation in space. This
book is divided into five chapters, in which the basic concepts, development histories, realization approaches, theoretical systems, basic methods and flight tests of the
pulsars and space navigations are discussed systematically, deeply and comprehensively. Especially, the basic theories and experimental results of pulsar navigation are
addressed in details in this book. The pulsar navigation is a typical interdisciplinary
research field, which is complex in technology, difficult to implement, innovative
strongly, with the remarkable characteristics of multi-disciplinary, comprehensive
and compound development. This book is to try to build a platform for interdisciplinary research and communication, and cultivate compound talents with innovative
potential, so as to better popularize and promote the technical research and system
development of pulsar navigation. So, This book is both a professional reference
about pulsar navigation and a high-grade popular science reading material, suitable
for scientific and technical personnel engaged in the research on the pulsar navigation system, and it can also be used as a general teaching material or reference book
for undergraduate and graduate students who are interested in the pulsar navigation
technology and have the relevant professional background knowledge.
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