Micro Sun Sensor with CMOS Imager for Small Satellite Attitude Control

Keisuke Yoshihara, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Hidekazu Hashimoto, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Toru Yamamoto, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Hirobumi Saito, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Eiji Hirokawa, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Makoto Mita, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Kota Magoshi, Magoshi Corp.

Abstract

A new type of Micro Sun Sensor (MSS) was started development for use on JAXA’s small satellites and space exploring spacecraft as attitude sensor. In recent years, small satellites are used for various missions, such as the Earth observation and science observation, and high functional attitude control system for small satellite is also required. Therefore, the sun sensor for small satellite is required to be good balance of its dimension, mass, power consumption and performance. The detector of the MSS is a CMOS Active Pixel Sensor (APS). The adoption of the CMOS APS contributes to simplicity and compactness on the MSS. The MSS is equipped with a commercial-grade CMOS APS. The state-of-the-art commercial APS is low cost and high performance. For radiation effect investigation, the tolerance for gamma rays and proton irradiation were tested. The Ground Test Model (GTM) of the MSS was fabricated and also has been tested. This paper reports the description of the MSS, the result of the radiation test for commercial APS and ground optical performance test of the MSS GTM.

 
Aug 10th, 3:00 PM

Micro Sun Sensor with CMOS Imager for Small Satellite Attitude Control

A new type of Micro Sun Sensor (MSS) was started development for use on JAXA’s small satellites and space exploring spacecraft as attitude sensor. In recent years, small satellites are used for various missions, such as the Earth observation and science observation, and high functional attitude control system for small satellite is also required. Therefore, the sun sensor for small satellite is required to be good balance of its dimension, mass, power consumption and performance. The detector of the MSS is a CMOS Active Pixel Sensor (APS). The adoption of the CMOS APS contributes to simplicity and compactness on the MSS. The MSS is equipped with a commercial-grade CMOS APS. The state-of-the-art commercial APS is low cost and high performance. For radiation effect investigation, the tolerance for gamma rays and proton irradiation were tested. The Ground Test Model (GTM) of the MSS was fabricated and also has been tested. This paper reports the description of the MSS, the result of the radiation test for commercial APS and ground optical performance test of the MSS GTM.