Session
Technical Session VII: Attitude Control I
Abstract
The recent success of the Pegasus small satellite launch system by Orbital Sciences Corporation foreshadows radical changes to the satellite industry comparable to those which occurred in the computer industry when personal computers became commercially available alternatives to mainframes. In order to support low cost, fixed price contracts for small commercial satellites, engineering design cycles for satellites and satellite subsystems will have to be shortened, and accomplished with fewer staff to meet more stringent cost and schedule goals. To accomplish this, better design tools must be made available which will allow the mission analysis, requirements analysis, and other systems engineering tasks to be accomplished in an integrated software environment by a systems engineer. The Satellite Pointing and Attitude Control Engineering System (SPACES) is a software package developed as part of an integrated toolset by Honeywell Satellite Systems Operation to meet the need for altitude determination, control and navigation subsystems requirements analysis. SPACES is specifically designed to support initial mission analysis, pointing and tracking system requirements, as well as ACDNS sensor and actuator analyses. The approach used in SPACES was to take advantage of the state-of-the-art in user interface technology to provide a integrated system preliminary design tool that is easy to use with graphically oriented output that can handle a large class of satellite missions without requiring software modification.
SPACES - An Integrated Software Approach for Attitude Determination, Control and Pointing Systems Analysis
The recent success of the Pegasus small satellite launch system by Orbital Sciences Corporation foreshadows radical changes to the satellite industry comparable to those which occurred in the computer industry when personal computers became commercially available alternatives to mainframes. In order to support low cost, fixed price contracts for small commercial satellites, engineering design cycles for satellites and satellite subsystems will have to be shortened, and accomplished with fewer staff to meet more stringent cost and schedule goals. To accomplish this, better design tools must be made available which will allow the mission analysis, requirements analysis, and other systems engineering tasks to be accomplished in an integrated software environment by a systems engineer. The Satellite Pointing and Attitude Control Engineering System (SPACES) is a software package developed as part of an integrated toolset by Honeywell Satellite Systems Operation to meet the need for altitude determination, control and navigation subsystems requirements analysis. SPACES is specifically designed to support initial mission analysis, pointing and tracking system requirements, as well as ACDNS sensor and actuator analyses. The approach used in SPACES was to take advantage of the state-of-the-art in user interface technology to provide a integrated system preliminary design tool that is easy to use with graphically oriented output that can handle a large class of satellite missions without requiring software modification.
