[Lex Computer & Tech Group/LCTG] The Secret to Better Airplane Navigation Could Be Inside the Earth’s Crust

[Ted Kochanski]

Not very practical for general use

You can make terrain surface maps -- see Tomahawk Land Attack Missile -- it
can't be jammed either and we recently saw the level of precision which is
possible

But you need the maps before you go Tomahawking

There was even a recent test using Ground Penetrating Radar to navigate an
autonomous land vehicle

Same thing is true about measuring gravity or the magnetic field and using
it for navigating -- you need the maps

Crude calculations will only get you crude positioning

By the way in 1953 Charles Stark Draper was a passenger in a Coast to Coast
flight [Hanscom to LA] navigated only by 1950's IMU technology

The first working implementation of "inertial navigation" for a
cross-country trip was completed with Space Inertial Reference Equipment
(SPIRE). SPIRE guided the first coast-to-coast airplane flight without the
use of a pilot.
https://www.draper.com/about/history


https://youtu.be/ClJ6onvxKqs?si=5wGTyHPxwYhBSSUw

SPIRE, Space Inertial Reference Equipment
<https://www.youtube.com/@DraperLab>
Draper <https://www.youtube.com/@DraperLab>




1,026 views Jun 5, 2014
This video about the Space Inertial Reference Equipment (SPIRE) was
produced by the U.S. Air Force in the 1950s. SPIRE was designed by Doc
Draper's Instrumentation Laboratory; it guided the first coast-to-coast
airplane flight without the aid of a pilot in 1953—the first working
implementation of "inertial navigation" for a cross-country trip.

Note that there was a pilot on board for emergency maneuvers and take-off
and landing

another Youtube
https://youtu.be/SqjGK1VYfwM?si=izZUlLSp6dkV3fWY

How Inertial Navigation Changed Air, Sea & Space Travel for Ever?
<https://www.youtube.com/@CuriousDroid>
Curious Droid <https://www.youtube.com/@CuriousDroid>



Save
371,695 views Nov 30, 2023
Before Inertial navigation , space travel, long range missles and covert
military air mission were very difficult if not impossible. Charles "Doc"
Draper created the first Inertial navigation that could guide an aircraft,
ship, submarine or space craft without any external signal or references
and as such he revolutionised Air, Sea & Space Travel for Ever.

SPIRE formed the core of the Draper-designed system which Navigated Apollo
to the Moon and Back

Note: we still use the same Inertial Reference principles -- now digital
for navigating
[Nuclear Submarines, Bombs, Cruise Missiles] [see Midnight Hammer], ICBMs
and even drone shows [see Lexington 250]]

Ted

On Wed, Jul 16, 2025 at 4:30 PM Peter Albin via LCTG <lctg at lists.toku.us>
wrote:

> Al Levin found the attached article in today's Wall Street Journal.
>
> Peter
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