Multimedia Gallery
- Media Type: Illustration
"Black box" refers to more than just a flight data recorder for accident investigations. It often refers to electronic components in an aircraft that monitor or control flight or that support communication and navigation.
Black-faced Coucal and Long-tailed Cuckoo, Pacific Islands (Centropus melanops, Eudynamys tahitus)
To locate themselves on the open ocean, navigators can determine their position by observing the Sun, Moon, stars, or planets. Some of these techniques involved using the North Star, the Lunar Distance Method, and finding local noon with a sextant.
The U.S. Exploring Expedition included a formidable group of botanists, naturalists, artists, taxidermists, and other scientists.
This Dutch mathematician patented the first working pendulum clock in 1656 and later devised a watch regulator called a balance spring. These inventions changed timekeeping forever.
Curiosity Rover on Mars
A navigator can take measurements of the ship speed and direction and the effects of wind and current. He can estimate the ship’s location fairly accurately–at least over short distances.
When referring to the Deep Space Network, deep space starts just past the Moon’s orbit and includes the solar system and beyond. To an astronomer, deep space might mean what’s beyond our galaxy.
Deer, North America (Cervus macrotis)
Transit was the first satellite-based global positioning and navigation system.
