inertial guidance


noun Navigation.

a guidance system for an aerospace vehicle, in which self-contained devices determine the vehicle's course on the basis of the directions and magnitudes of the accelerations it undergoes in flight.
Also called inertial navigation.

Origin of inertial guidance

First recorded in 1950–55

British Dictionary definitions for inertial guidance

inertial guidance

inertial navigation


noun

a method of controlling the flight path of a missile by instruments contained within it. Velocities or distances covered, computed from the acceleration measured by these instruments, are compared with stored data and used to control the speed and direction of the missile Compare celestial guidance, terrestrial guidance