Significant technical considerations prompted the start of an evolution, twenty years ago, from the use of the floated, rate- integrating gyro to the dynamically tuned gyro (DTG) for the precision, three-axis attitude control of spacecraft. DTG's have since then been widely applied in U.S. spacecraft. The anticipated advent of smaller, lower cost spacecraft prompted the development of a new generation, lower cost, low weight (3.6 lb/1.8 kg), moderate performance inertial reference unit (IRU) for such applications by making use of the miniature CONEX DTG. The resulting two-axis rate assembly has already been qualified and delivered to two programs. In parallel, development of a miniature, three-axis ring laser gyro has proceeded to the point where an inertial measurement unit has entered the early phase of production for a tactical missile program. Simple modification of the hardware will provide a production-based IRU or IMU design at a cost advantage for spacecraft applications.


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    Title :

    Inertial reference unit design for small spacecraft


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    Acquisition, Tracking, and Pointing VIII ; 1994 ; Orlando,FL,United States


    Published in:

    Publication date :

    1994-07-05





    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



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