Micro APS based star tracker

Author

Liebe, Carl Christian ; Alkalai, Leon ; Domingo, George ; Hancock, Bruce ; Hunter, Don ; Mellstrom, Jeff ; Ruiz, Ian ; Sepulveda, C. ; Pain, Bedabrata

Author_Institution

Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA, USA

Volume

5

fYear

2002

fDate

2002

Firstpage

140741

Abstract

JPL has conducted a study on how to design future miniaturized star trackers. The study proposes an ultra-low power (70 mW), ultra-low mass (42 grams) and very fast (50 Hz) Micro, APS-based Star Tracker (MAST). The accuracy of the MAST will be ∼7.5 arcseconds at 50 Hz update rate. The MAST is indispensable to all low mass and power micro/nano spacecraft where mass and power is a concern. The MAST consists of only two chips-a breakthrough CMOS Active Pixel Sensor (APS) image detector optimized for star tracker applications and an ASIC chip including an I²C interface, memory and an 8051 microcontroller. MAST has functionality so it outputs pixel data from small windows and the spacecraft computer performs the processing.

Keywords

CMOS image sensors; aerospace computing; application specific integrated circuits; attitude control; attitude measurement; low-power electronics; microcontrollers; optical tracking; radiation hardening (electronics); sensitivity; space vehicle electronics; 3-axis attitude determination; 42 gm; 50 Hz; 70 mW; 8051 microcontroller; ASIC chip; CMOS APS image sensor; I²C interface; MAST architecture; active pixel sensor; memory; micro APS based star tracker; microspacecraft; miniaturized star trackers; nanospacecraft; radiation resistance; ultra-low mass star tracker; ultra-low power star tracker; CMOS image sensors; CMOS process; CMOS technology; Charge coupled devices; Image converters; Optical imaging; Pixel; Space technology; Space vehicles; Timing;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Aerospace Conference Proceedings, 2002. IEEE

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7231-X

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/AERO.2002.1035396

Filename

1035396