I know its by knowing where it Isn’t, but how does it actually work?
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Depends on the type of missle you’re asking about. We got the ballistic missiles, we got interceptors, we got AA, we got cruise, we got all the missles , come on down to Discount Dan’s Missile market we got em all.
That being said, the guidance systems depend on the mission of the missile. An Anti Air missile would not work well with GPS, it needs to be too quick and too manueravable.
Some common methods, however, with abbreviated descriptions, are as follows
Gps-works like your smartphone but better because the government paid more.
Initerial-using onboard systems the missiles to do more math than I can to figure out where it is based on speed and maneuvers using things like onboard gyros and timers
Preset guidance – the operator told it where to go and how to get there.
Celestial- uses the stars/moon, maybe the sun to figure out where it’s going
Terrestrial – maps or pictures are programmed on board, and the device takes periodic “looks” to compare to the images and figures out where it is.
Magnetic- uses a compass like Grandad did.
Sensors – possible heat detection/radar functions. Fun fact missiles using heat get lost sometimes after locking on the sun.
This isn’t everything possible, just a brief overview. Many missiles also use multiple systems to ensure accuracy.
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