Attitude Determination of Triad and TIP-II and -III Gravity-Gradient-Stabilized Satellites.

Abstract

The attitude of a satellite refers to the rotational orientation of the spacecraft relative to some reference triad of Cartesian axes (these being, for the type of spacecraft treated here, the orbit radius vector, the normal-to-the-orbit plane, and the vector cross product of the two). Mathematically, the attitude is usually represented by nine direction cosines and/or three Euler angles. The numerical determination of these parameters is the objective of attitude estimation. Various schemes have been developed and used by the Applied Physical Laboratory to determine the attitude performance of its satellites. In recent years, a least-squares technique that involves eigenvalue and eigenvector computation has been added. This report presents the formulation of the technique and discusses its successful application. Attitude estimation results from three orbiting spacecraft are included. (Author)

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 1977
Accession Number
ADA048850

Entities

People

  • C. E. Williams

Organizations

  • Johns Hopkins University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Artificial Satellites
  • Computations
  • Coordinate Systems
  • Detectors
  • Eigenvalues
  • Eigenvectors
  • Equations
  • Euler Angles
  • Inertial Navigation Systems
  • Magnetic Fields
  • Orientation (Direction)
  • Physics
  • Physics Laboratories
  • Satellite Orientation
  • Spacecraft
  • Vector Magnetometers
  • Vehicles

Readers

  • Adaptive Control and Estimation with Uncertainty in Dynamic Systems.
  • Approximation Theory.
  • Space Exploration and Orbital Mechanics.

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Orbital Debris
  • Space - Spacecraft Maneuvers