How do spacecraft navigate in space ?

How do spacecraft navigate in space over billions of kilometers and with split second timing during missions that last for years or decades. Here we look at how its done and the underlying principles that make it all possible.

Presented by
Paul Shillito

Written and Researched by
Paul Shillito

Images and Footage
NASA, ESA, MIT, SolarSystemVideos

Music by
Response Data by P C III is licensed under a Attribution License.

[MichaelTJohnston]

Incredible. You basically just summed up my entire orbital mechanics class in 15 minutes. Great work!

[ristos]

I'm going to say it, I absolutely love watching these videos by a guy who should be playing bond villain, but instead is putting his passion into educating people about space and shit, I admire and respect this dude, he's tops!

[Yoctopory]

I'm just amazed by the achievements of this species that only used the first telescope some 400 years ago

[jaredcrotty]

Man, you need to write some of the “for morons” books. I struggled to understand this stuff until you made it make sense in 16 minutes and 57 seconds. I hope you do something in education. Great video and thank you.

[gvbfzxs]

When I was a kid and I heard about the Voyagers going on the “Grand Tour” I thought it was so cool.
When I grew older, studied physics, and got a better grasp of the immense distances, the fact that they aimed a spacecraft an orbiting planet
(Jupiter)
with an accuracy such that it’s velocity and force of gravity from its mass (calculated of a planet billions of miles away) would accelerate it and deflect its path such that a few years later it could rendezvous with *another* orbiting planet
(Saturn)
with an accuracy such that it’s velocity and force of gravity from its mass (calculated of a planet billions of miles away) would accelerate it and deflect its path such that a few years later it could rendezvous with *another* orbiting planet
(Uranus)
with an accuracy such that it’s velocity and force of gravity from its mass (calculated of a planet billions of miles away) would accelerate it and deflect its path such that a few years later it could rendezvous with *another* orbiting planet
(Neptune)....
I realized how totally fucking badass those guys at NASA were.

[JuiceBlack]

There are some things that make me incredibly proud of human ingenuity. This is one of them.

[RICKYCHAVEZ]

Curious Droid is one of my most favorite subscriptions on YouTube. I appreciate how accurate and dead on he is when it comes to explaining how, when, and why. Very educational, very informative, and very interesting. I look forward to new videos and that's why I subscribed to Curious Droid. I can't wait to see what's next! Nice shirts too!

[kuzev]

wow this is one of the rare cases background music is actually the right type, at the right volume and just complimenting the overall quality of the video

[Braddurs]

I don't think people appreciate the amount of work that has gone into space travel across the centuries. It it truly fascinating that the observations made by people hundreds of years ago are vital to modern space travel today. Great video!

[kirbfx]

“An object in rest, tends to stay in rest”. So that explains why I haven’t gotten off the couch watching these videos all day. Hey it isn’t my fault that outside forces are too lazy to act upon me 😂😂😂.

[Automobiliana]

I must’ve watched this video a dozen times already, but I always find some new info, awesome work Paul

[Dob.]

The most amazing part is voyager's ability to send signals from billions of kilometers away, hats off to the folks of this ingenuity.

[ThisHandleFeatureIsStupid]

Wow, man. Curious Droid, this work is amazing!!!
The music, editing, visual aids, narration tone, and all that production stuff is top-notch, but despite that strength, the content mix absolutely steals the show. The video title would have easily excused you for offering a dry technical summary, but you didn't. Instead, you wove in some of the most inspiring accomplishments in the history of human exploration, and with such finesse! The amount of work you put into timing the insertion of each individual history lesson is certainly apparent.
Like the scientific process itself, you produce an explosion of new questions for every answer found. And like the father of the Pale Blue Dot, you present the simple beauty of the universe so softly and so poetically; even the most willfully ignorant viewer would find themselves powerless to resist the allure of its wonders. Carl would be very proud.

[wernerheenop]

This is probably the best video i've seen on Youtube. Well done.

[davidsheriff]

I go in a straight line to the pub, unless another force ( my wife ) changes my direction..

[bofadeez]

@3:19, congratulations the projectile just killed you with a headshot

[gvbfzxs]

I served on a fast attack sub in north atlantic in late 80’s which used a pair of gyro accelerometers to track our position while submerged. On our longest mission we did not surface for 95 days and yet after all that time, “flying” through the 3 dimensions under water and frequent rough seas in the North Atlantic, I was told by one of my friends who was a Quartermaster (navigation) that when we finally surfaced and compared indicated to actual position, the error was less than 2 meters.
Mind:blown.

[faudanke]

Actually they just press M to go to map view

[ASLUHLUHCE]

Wow so much goes into it. Also, you're a brilliant teacher

[kalsizzle]

Absolutely beautiful video. Everything about the way you presented it, the music, and the graphics did this subject justice.