A Passive System for Determining the Attitude of a Satellite

Abstract

The system is based upon measurements of the direction cosines of two linearly independent vectors. The necessary measurements are performed in a satellite-fixed coordinate system and telemetered to a ground station. Knowledge of the satellite position (obtained from independent measurements) can then be used together with the telemetered results to compute the attitude matrix for the satellite. A system designed and successfully implemented in the 1963 22A satellite is described. Some results are given.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 01, 1963
Accession Number
AD0624479

Entities

People

  • Harold D. Black

Organizations

  • Johns Hopkins University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Angular Momentum
  • Artificial Satellites
  • Coordinate Systems
  • Detectors
  • Ground Stations
  • Magnetic Fields
  • Magnetometers
  • Mathematical Models
  • Measurement
  • Orbits
  • Physics
  • Physics Laboratories
  • Satellite Orbits
  • Solar Cells
  • Transient Response Analysis
  • Vector Magnetometers

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Approximation Theory.
  • Oceanography.
  • Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Technology.

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Satellites
  • Space - Spacecraft Maneuvers