Session
Pre-Conference Poster Session II
Location
Utah State University, Logan, UT
Abstract
The current CubeSat attitude sensor landscape is bimodal. One end of the spectrum is occupied by solar angle sensors, magnetometers, and rate gyros. However, these low-cost sensors offer insufficient performance for missions that need higher pointing accuracy. Star trackers occupy the other end of the spectrum, providing much greater pointing knowledge accuracy. Unfortunately, the commercially available star trackers are prohibitively expensive for most modest-budget CubeSat missions. To address this problem, the Cal Poly CubeSat Lab (CPCL) decided to implement a star tracker targeted at filling the gap between commercial options and coarse sensors.
Design of Modular Star Tracker Software
Utah State University, Logan, UT
The current CubeSat attitude sensor landscape is bimodal. One end of the spectrum is occupied by solar angle sensors, magnetometers, and rate gyros. However, these low-cost sensors offer insufficient performance for missions that need higher pointing accuracy. Star trackers occupy the other end of the spectrum, providing much greater pointing knowledge accuracy. Unfortunately, the commercially available star trackers are prohibitively expensive for most modest-budget CubeSat missions. To address this problem, the Cal Poly CubeSat Lab (CPCL) decided to implement a star tracker targeted at filling the gap between commercial options and coarse sensors.
