Session
Technical Session III: Advanced Technologies II
Abstract
In this paper, we examine the challenges of ground-based stray light testing from a microsatellite perspective. We consider some of the historical approaches to simulation and laboratory testing and propose strategies for ground validation that require only modest investment in test facilities. The star tracker or instrument is characterized in the lab without any baffle, using a novel technique to subtract out reflections internal to the test chamber. From the resulting data a simulation element is produced, and placed at the exit of the baffle in a non-sequential ray tracing analysis. This hybrid experimental/simulation approach makes attenuation predictions that span about nine orders of magnitude, and is effective for predicting solar exclusion angles for devices that observe bright stellar targets (i.e., magnitude six or less).
Presentation Slides
Microsatellite Star Tracker Baffles: Validation and Testing
In this paper, we examine the challenges of ground-based stray light testing from a microsatellite perspective. We consider some of the historical approaches to simulation and laboratory testing and propose strategies for ground validation that require only modest investment in test facilities. The star tracker or instrument is characterized in the lab without any baffle, using a novel technique to subtract out reflections internal to the test chamber. From the resulting data a simulation element is produced, and placed at the exit of the baffle in a non-sequential ray tracing analysis. This hybrid experimental/simulation approach makes attenuation predictions that span about nine orders of magnitude, and is effective for predicting solar exclusion angles for devices that observe bright stellar targets (i.e., magnitude six or less).
