AbstractFor full 3-axes attitude determination the magnetic field vector and the Sun vector can be used. A Coarse Sun Sensor consisting of six solar cells placed on each of the six outer surfaces of the satellite is used for Sun vector determination. This robust and low cost setup is sensitive to surrounding light sources as it sees the whole sky. To compensate for the largest error source, the Earth, an albedo model is developed.The total albedo light vector has contributions from the Earth surface which is illuminated by the Sun and visible from the satellite. Depending on the reflectivity of the Earth surface, the satellite's position and the Sun's position the albedo light changes. This cannot be calculated analytically and hence a numerical model is developed. For on-board computer use the Earth albedo model consisting of data tables is transferred into polynomial functions in order to save memory space.For an absolute worst case the attitude determination error can be held below 2 . In a nominal case it is better than 1 .


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    Title :

    Attitude estimation from magnetometer and earth-albedo-corrected coarse sun sensor measurements


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    Acta Astronautica ; 56 , 1-2 ; 115-126


    Publication date :

    2004-01-01


    Size :

    12 pages




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



    Attitude estimation from magnetometer and earth-albedo-corrected coarse sun sensor measurements

    Appel, P. / International Academy of Astronautics | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2004



    Attitude estimation from magnetometer and earth-albedo-corrected coarse sun sensor measurements

    Appel, P. / Theil, S. / Winkler, S. et al. | Tema Archive | 2003


    Attitude Estimation from Magnetometer and Earth-Albedo-Corrected Coarse Sun Sensor Measurements

    Appel, P. / European Space Agency | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2003


    Coarse attitude determination from Earth albedo measurements

    Fisher, H.L. / Musser, K.L. / Shuster, M.D. | IEEE | 1993