Abstract: Application of an optical navigation sensor (ONS) is a tendency for deep space navigation in the world. The method has many benefits such as good autonomous ability, high accuracy, low cost and so on. Design, development, and validation of the ONS are first discussed in China in this paper. The main technical parameters of the ONS are as follows: the focal length is 953.8mm，the field of view is 0.8°×0.8°,the limiting detection sensitivity is 12 Mv, the measurement accuracy is 0.5″, and the dynamic range of response is 100∶1. The test results in the laboratory and stars observation station indicate all the technical parameters of the ONS’s prototype example are realized.

Key words: deep space detection； autonomous navigation, optical sensor, image processing