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Would a magnetic compass be suitable to be used for space travel . if not what kind of equipment would you suggest?
Wiki User
∙ 11y ago
In a word, no.
A conventional magnetic compass only indicates the *Earth's* magnetic field. The influence of any extraterrestrial magnetic fields falls off according to the inverse-square law, that is, the force is diminished by the square of the distance from the source. What this means is that any fields present from other objects are very small compared to the Earth's own field. You can demonstrate this by influencing a compass with a small bar magnet. Once you leave the vicinity of Earth, the usefulness of a magnetic compass disappears almost immediately.
Of present technology, Inertial Navigation is the most suited for space travel. By using accelerometers and gyroscopes to measure acceleration along each axis, and rotation around each axis, you can keep track of distance and direction traveled.
That's how spacecraft got to the moon, planets and beyond the solar system.
Addition: A sextant will always be a handy navigational tool. If interstellar travel ever becomes a reality a real time pulsar triangulator will be a necessity. Every pulsar has a unique rotational frequency. By triangulating apparent angles between the pulsars a spacecrafts position in space can be known.
Wiki User
∙ 11y ago
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