If you want to know where you are in space, you'd better bring along a map. But it's a little more complicated than riding shotgun on a family road trip.

Spacecraft navigation beyond Earth orbit is usually carried out by mission control. A series of radio communication arrays across the planet, known as the Deep Space Network, allows operators to check in with space probes and update their navigational status. The system works, but it could be better. What if a spacecraft could autonomously determine its position, without needing to phone home? That's been a dream of aerospace engineers for a long time, and it's getting close to fruition.

Pulsars are the key.

Pulsars are rotating neutron stars—the ultra-dense cores of exploded supergiant stars—which emit jets of electromagnetic radiation from their poles. They act like interstellar lighthouses that repeatedly wash radio signals over Earth in a dependable rhythm. The first pulsar was discovered by Jocelyn Bell in 1967 and was nicknamed LGM-1 (Little Green Men 1), because until a second one was discovered, extraterrestrial intelligence couldn't be ruled out as the pulsar's cause.

The second Emirati to journey into space, martial arts enthusiast Sultan AlNeyadi, weighed up Thursday performing Ramadan in orbit—and promised to pack his jiu-jitsu suit for the ride.

AlNeyadi, 41, dubbed the "Sultan of Space" by his alma mater, will blast off on February 26 for the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

During his six months in orbit—a record time for any Arab astronaut—AlNeyadi said he would like to observe the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims typically fast from dawn to sunset.

But space travel presents unique challenges.

"The ISS travels quickly... meaning it orbits around the Earth in 90 minutes," he told reporters in Dubai.