Aeronautics and astronautics – Spacecraft – Attitude control
Patent
1998-08-12
2000-06-20
Carone, Michael J.
Aeronautics and astronautics
Spacecraft
Attitude control
342354, 701222, 701226, B64G 124
Patent
active
06076774&
ABSTRACT:
A system and method for acquiring the Earth by a three-axis stabilized spacecraft in the presence of a significantly time-varying Sun-Earth angle including obtaining an Earth cone described by rotating the nadir vector about the Sun vector, slewing the spacecraft about an axis until the Earth sensor boresight touches an edge of the Earth cone, updating the Earth cone due to the changing Sun-Earth separation angle, performing a spiral coning maneuver about the updated Earth cone until the Earth sensor detects the Earth, and locking onto the Earth so as to hold the Earth sensor boresight coincident with the nadir vector. Additionally, the spacecraft may be rotated about the nadir vector so as to bring the spacecraft into a desired final attitude.
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Noyola Richard A.
Shah Piyush R.
Tanner Thomas M.
Carone Michael J.
French III Fredrick T.
Grunebach Georgann S.
Hughes Electronics Corporation
Sales M. W.
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