Design and Testing of Three-Axis Satellite Attitude Determination and Stabilization Systems That Are Based on Magnetic Sensing and Actuation
Abstract
Three-axis satellite attitude determination and active stabilization systems have been designed and tested using both flight experiments and simulation studies. These are being developed for use on low-Earth-orbiting name- satellites. Such satellites can be used as elements of constellations that implement synthetic aperture radar or that serve as nudes in a communications network. The research has addressed the problems of under-sensing and under-actuation that are present in magnetic-based systems. Magnetometer outputs are insensitive to rotation about the local Earth magnetic field, and magnetic torque coils cannot produce torque slump the field direction. A new attitude representation and a special globally-convergent extended Kalman filter have been used to solve the 3-axis attitude estimation problem. The efficacy of this system has been demonstrated using data from the missions, the Hubble Space Telescope and the Far-Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer. Semi-active global 3-axis stabilization has been demonstrated using a simplified magnetometer output feedback control law in combination with weak passive stabilization of the axes. The passive stabilization can come from a very small momentum wheel or from a new aerodynamic system. The momentum-wheel-based concept has been successfully tested on the TechSat Gurwin II spacecraft.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 27, 2002
- Accession Number
- ADA408545
Entities
People
- Mark L. Psiaki
- Moshe Guelman
Organizations
- Cornell University