Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 2 of 2
Full-Text Articles in Engineering
Low-Thrust Assisted Angles-Only Navigation, Robert W. Gillis
Low-Thrust Assisted Angles-Only Navigation, Robert W. Gillis
All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023
Tradition spacecraft proximity operations require large and expensive on-board sensors and significant ground support. Relative angle measurements can be obtained from small, simple, and inexpensive on-board sensors, but have not traditionally been used for proximity operation because of difficulty generating rang information. In this thesis it is shown that useful relative range data can be generated provided that the spacecraft is experiencing a small continuous thrust such as would be provided by a low-thrust propulsion system. In previous work range observability was shown with impulsive maneuvers. This thesis will expand this work to low-thrust spacecraft and will show how range …
Experimental Testing Of The Accuracy Of Attitude Determination Solutions For A Spin-Stabilized Spacecraft, Keegan P. Ryan
Experimental Testing Of The Accuracy Of Attitude Determination Solutions For A Spin-Stabilized Spacecraft, Keegan P. Ryan
All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023
Spin-stabilized spacecraft generally rely on sun and three-axis magnetic field sensor measurements for attitude determination. This study experimentally determines the total accuracy of attitude determination solutions using modest quality sensors. This was ac- complished by having a test spacecraft collect data during spinning motions. The data was then post-processed to find the attitude estimates, which were then compared to the experimentally measured attitude. This same approach will be used to test the accuracy of the attitude determination system of the DICE spacecraft to be built by SDL/USU.