Star trackers for range determination in rendezvous and proximity operations

A system in a space vehicle, the system comprising:

• a first star tracker disposed at a first location on or near the space vehicle, the first star tracker configured to obtain first images of a space object deployed by the space vehicle and stars;
• a second star tracker disposed at a second location on or near the space vehicle, at a distance D from the first location, the second star tracker configured to obtain second images of the space object and the stars and the first images and the second images being stereoscopic images;
• a processor configured to:
• process a massless payload uploaded from a ground station and received at the space vehicle in a state in which the space vehicle is deployed and is spaced apart from the ground station, wherein the processor is configured to apply an algorithm configured to determine one or more estimates of a range from the space vehicle to the space object deployed by the space vehicle or dynamically modify the algorithm based on the massless payload;
• store the algorithm to a memory of the space vehicle;
• determine an estimate of the range from the space vehicle to the space object based on the first images and the second images;
• and
• process the estimate of the range using the algorithm;
• and
• a controller configured to control the space vehicle in association with performing one or more actions by the space vehicle with respect to the space object deployed by the space vehicle, based on the processing of the estimate of the range using the algorithm, wherein the one or more actions comprise rendezvous proximity operation (RPO) maneuvers around the space object deployed by the space vehicle.