Session
Technical Session VII: Student Scholarship Competition
Abstract
A Drag-Free Control (DFC) system is a necessity for all future space-borne gravitational wave missions such as LISA, and similar technology is needed on other missions where high positional accuracy is required. The DFC system is needed to control the motion of the spacecraft that are required for the construction of a giant Michelson interferometer, which can be used to detect gravitational waves. Prior to this a technology demonstator mission is needed to test the feasibility of a drag-free spacecraft. This paper defines the requirements of the associated hardware (i.e. accelerometers, FEEP thrusters etc.) to be used in such a mission and details the control algorithms needed for the control computer such that a DFC system can be implemented and enable the required DFC performance of at least »10-13 ms-2.Hz-0.5 to be acheived.
Development of a Drag-Free Control System
A Drag-Free Control (DFC) system is a necessity for all future space-borne gravitational wave missions such as LISA, and similar technology is needed on other missions where high positional accuracy is required. The DFC system is needed to control the motion of the spacecraft that are required for the construction of a giant Michelson interferometer, which can be used to detect gravitational waves. Prior to this a technology demonstator mission is needed to test the feasibility of a drag-free spacecraft. This paper defines the requirements of the associated hardware (i.e. accelerometers, FEEP thrusters etc.) to be used in such a mission and details the control algorithms needed for the control computer such that a DFC system can be implemented and enable the required DFC performance of at least »10-13 ms-2.Hz-0.5 to be acheived.
