Error Analysis of Typical Starlight Refraction Model

Starlight refraction navigation is a very important method for spacecraft. Over the course of decades, starlight refraction navigation has developed a set of classical calculations. Among them, the atmospheric refraction model of starlight is undoubtedly the core of this algorithm. However, the model is based on several ideal conditions. These conditions may not be met. The analysis of the influence of these conditions on the whole refraction model is of great value to the error analysis of starlight refraction navigation. In this paper, the effects of different hypotheses on the establishment of the model are analyzed based on the process of establishing the traditional model. Based on the theoretical analysis results, we designed a rigorous simulation experiment and revealed the role of different model assumptions through the simulation results.