Star trackers are an accurate device used by most spacecraft to autonomously determine their orientation. The future Europa Orbiter mission poses significant environmental challenges not typically encountered in other space missions. The Jovian system in which the star tracker must operate is characterized by extremely intense ionizing radiation, which is primarily due to high-energy electrons and protons trapped by Jupiter's magnetic field. The design of a star tracker that will operate in this environment must overcome many challenging problems. Ionizing radiation will cause ordinary optical glass to darken. Silicon based detectors typically experience threshold shifts, increased dark current, reduced quantum efficiency and reduced charge transfer efficiency (in the case of CCDs). An even larger challenge is posed by the charged particle flux impinging on the detector. Charged particles incident on any glass in the optical path will generate luminescence and Cerenkov radiation, which degrades the signal to noise ratio. This paper discusses issues related to the design of a star tracker that can operate in the Europa radiation environment.


    Access

    Check access

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Star tracker design considerations for the Europa Orbiter mission


    Contributors:


    Publication date :

    1999-01-01


    Size :

    1569027 byte




    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



    Star Tracker Design Considerations for the Europa Orbiter Mission

    IEEE; Aerospace and Electronics Systems Society | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1999


    Europa Orbiter Mission Design Overview

    Johannesen, J. / Ludwinski, J. / D'Amario, L. et al. | NTRS | 2000


    The Europa Orbiter Mission Design

    Staehle, R. / Mitchell, R. / Johannesen, J. et al. | NTRS | 1998


    Europa Orbiter Mission Trajectory Design

    Johannesen, J. | NTRS | 1999


    The Europa Orbiter Mission Design

    Staehle, R. / Mitchell, R. / Maddock, R. et al. | NTRS | 1998