An algorithm to conduct spacecraft attitude determination via terrestrial illumination matching (TIM) is presented consisting of a novel method that uses terrestrial lights as a surrogate for star fields. Although star sensors represent a highly accurate means of attitude determination with considerable spaceflight heritage, TIM provides a potentially viable alternative in the event of star sensor malfunction or performance degradation. The research defines a catalog of terrestrial light “constellations,” which are then implemented within the TIM algorithm for position acquisition of a generic spacecraft bus. With the algorithm relying on terrestrial lights rather than the establish standard of star fields, a series of sensitivity studies are showcased to determine performance during specified operating constraints, to include varying orbital altitude and cloud cover conditions. Also, a comparison of relative accuracy will be presented for TIM with a generic star sensor.


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    Title :

    Spacecraft Attitude Determination Using Terrestrial Illumination Matching


    Contributors:


    Publication date :

    2020-03-01


    Size :

    1565938 byte




    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



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