I wonder how much would it cost to build a GPS-like network for the whole solar-system...
The good thing is that, for such a thing to be really useful, we'd have to invent better propulsion systems which would, in turn, make the network much cheaper to build.
Pulsars can be used to arrive at celestial positioning accurate to ±5 km. There is a test rig on the ISS that has validated this. No need to build human made beacons when the universe has so graciously provided us with them.
They plan to get within 1km, which is quite impressive for one system alone. Thanks for the pointer (after reading it, I remember having read about NICER, but didn't remember the precision they got)
Id guess it could be done for not that much, assuming accuracy can go from a few meters to few thousands of miles. (Someone more versed might be able to give a better oom on accuracy). Just need to launch 4(+) satalites, 2 up and 2 down relative to the orbital plane. So long as a ship isn't hiding behind a planet/sun it should have LOS to all 4 for triangulation.
Not exactly. You can use star location to determine a spacecraft's orientation (and they do), but its location is determined by measuring the doppler shift of the carrier signal sent from the spacecraft back to earth and running those results through some pretty hairy math. GPS works by having a network of beacons in known locations transmitting signals with known timing. I just learned from a sibling comment in this thread that they're working on using pulsars as the beacons. But building an artificial GPS system for the solar system would require sending out a network of satellites into solar orbit. That might be technically feasible, but not economically feasible.
Actually, in the case of New Horizons, it is. Mission navigators use LORRI images of known objects relative to the background stars to calibrate their position.
The good thing is that, for such a thing to be really useful, we'd have to invent better propulsion systems which would, in turn, make the network much cheaper to build.