Session
Poster Session 1
Abstract
The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) has designed a compact star-field sensor (SFS) to provide accurate attitude determination to support the pointing requirements of a deployable high-gain antenna on the LANLdesigned 1.5U CubeSat platform. The SFS hardware was designed and built entirely at LANL with the goal of minimizing the size requirements and unit costs. Attitude determination is accomplished by comparing the SFS imagery to the Tycho-2 catalog located onboard the satellite. A full “Lost in Space” attitude solution, accurate to about an arcminute, is accomplished in under a minute. The SFS is fully reprogrammable on orbit, allowing continued algorithm development after launch. The first two units were launched in November 2016. We will discuss the hardware design, algorithm development, and field tests.
A Compact Star-Field Sensor for the Los Alamos Designed 1.5U CubeSat System
The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) has designed a compact star-field sensor (SFS) to provide accurate attitude determination to support the pointing requirements of a deployable high-gain antenna on the LANLdesigned 1.5U CubeSat platform. The SFS hardware was designed and built entirely at LANL with the goal of minimizing the size requirements and unit costs. Attitude determination is accomplished by comparing the SFS imagery to the Tycho-2 catalog located onboard the satellite. A full “Lost in Space” attitude solution, accurate to about an arcminute, is accomplished in under a minute. The SFS is fully reprogrammable on orbit, allowing continued algorithm development after launch. The first two units were launched in November 2016. We will discuss the hardware design, algorithm development, and field tests.
