Aeronautics and astronautics – Spacecraft – Attitude control
Patent
1999-06-21
2000-11-07
Poon, Peter M.
Aeronautics and astronautics
Spacecraft
Attitude control
244169, 244171, B64G 126
Patent
active
061424226
ABSTRACT:
A method for inertially aligning a spacecraft along an axis, comprising the steps of using quaternion feedback control to reorient the spacecraft, and during the step of reorienting, using rate integrating gyroscopes in a pulse rebalance loop. The method operates to orient the spacecraft along an inertial direction of interest by the steps of operating a sensor to provide an initial fix on the inertial direction of interest; repetitively determining a difference between a commanded quaternion and a quaternion estimated based on sensed angular rates; and selectively applying torques to the spacecraft so as to drive the difference towards zero such that a spacecraft vector is aligned with the inertia direction of interest, thereby orienting the spacecraft. One mode of operation maintains the spacecraft fixed in orientation, while another mode of operation rotates the spacecraft about the direction of interest by using a bias-rate blind quaternion propagation technique.
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Chan Kam
Stoen Jeffery D
Dinh Tien
Poon Peter M.
Space Systems Loral, Inc.
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