Jitter control for imaging spacecraft

The current imaging spacecraft design trend is for higher imaging performance, allowing very low jitter. Vibration sources on spacecraft include reaction or momentum wheels, control moment gyros (CMG), solar drive motors, thruster firing, cryogenic coolers and slew maneuvers. Several techniques have been developed to reduce jitter. One technique is to increase damping of the spacecraft support structure to reduce vibration response by adding passive and/or active damping. The second technique is to introduce isolation between vibration source and the spacecraft. The third technique is to isolate the optical payloads from the spacecraft. The fourth technique is to reduce jitter in the optical beam by using fast steering mirrors. For spacecraft requiring the very low jitter, a combination of these techniques is used. This paper discusses briefly all these jitter control techniques.