Aerospace Instrument-Making Annotation << Back VECTORIAL CORRECTION OF THE ATMOSPHERIC REFRACTION FOR AN INTRA-ATMOSPHERIC STAR SENSOR M.N. Volkov The presented algorithm corrects three components of an atmospheric refraction - astronomical refraction on the plane-parallel Earth’s atmosphere, aerodynamic refraction on local density gradients near an aircraft body, and internal refraction at the interface between the inner and outer atmospheres of the star sensor. The refraction correction is performed by correcting the coordinates of the three-dimensional direction vectors of the stars. The calculation formulas of the algorithm are based on the standard atmosphere, so the correction requires the measurement of the flight altitude. The interfaces between refractive media within the field of view of the star sensor are approximated by planes that are differently oriented in space. The orientation of the planes is calculated from the fi xed parameters of the star sensor design with the involvement of additional information about roll and pitch angles, and about components of the airspeed vector of the aircraft. The values of the angles of refraction in the standard atmosphere are calculated for various altitudes and flight speeds. Keywords: star sensor, astronomical refraction, internal refraction, aerodynamical refraction, refraction correction. DOI: 10.25791/aviakosmos.9.2022.1299 Pp. 31-44.