Star trackers for attitude determination

Carl Christian Liebe

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    Abstract

    One problem comes to all spacecrafts using vector information. That is the problem of determining the attitude. This paper describes how the area of attitude determination instruments has evolved from simple pointing devices into the latest technology, which determines the attitude by utilizing a CCD camera and a powerful microcomputer. The instruments are called star trackers and they are capable of determining the attitude with an accuracy better than 1 arcsecond. The concept of the star tracker is explained. The obtainable accuracy is calculated, the numbers of stars to be included in the star catalogue are discussed and the acquisition of the initial attitude is explained. Finally the commercial market for star trackers is discussed
    Original languageEnglish
    JournalI E E E Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine
    Volume10
    Issue number6
    Pages (from-to)10-16
    ISSN0885-8985
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1995

    Bibliographical note

    Copyright: 1995 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE

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