DocumentCode :
1127484
Title :
Three-Axes Attitude Determination of Spacecraft Using a Laser
Author :
Aruga, T. ; Igarashi, T.
Author_Institution :
Radio Research Laboratories, Japan
Issue :
5
fYear :
1977
Firstpage :
473
Lastpage :
479
Abstract :
A new method for attitude determination of spacecraft is proposed. The distinctive feature of this method is the ability to determine with high accuracy three elementary angles of the attitude by detection of the electromagnetic wave transmission from a single point. The system consists of a transmitter of a linearly polarized laser beam on the earth (or spacecraft) and receiving equipment on a relevant spacecraft. When the system is used for geosynchronous satellites, the possible accuracies of determination are 10-4 rad or higher for the angles which correspond to roll and pitch, and 10-2 rad or higher for the angle which corresponds to yaw, with the period of 1 s. The system margin for atmospheric attenuation is estimated to be about 50 dB (midnight) to about 20 dB (midday) on the basis of commercially available components. Consequently, it becomes possible to orient antennas or detectors toward arbitrary points around the laser transmitting point on the earth with a high pointing accuracy.
Keywords :
Earth; Electromagnetic scattering; Electromagnetic wave polarization; Laser beams; Optical attenuators; Position measurement; Satellites; Space vehicles; Transmitters; Transmitting antennas;
fLanguage :
English
Journal_Title :
Aerospace and Electronic Systems, IEEE Transactions on
Publisher :
ieee
ISSN :
0018-9251
Type :
jour
DOI :
10.1109/TAES.1977.308412
Filename :
4101858
Link To Document :
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