Inertial reference system for a spacecraft
AssigneeHoneywell International Inc.
InventorsJack H. Jacobs, Marc E. Meffe
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An inertial reference system for a spacecraft includes an attitude control assembly and a plurality of force sensors. The attitude control assembly is coupled to a spacecraft body at a plurality of attachment points and at least one of the plurality of force sensors is integrated at each of the attachment points. In one embodiment, the force sensors are piezoelectric transducers. In another embodiment, the control assembly is coupled to the spacecraft body at four attachment points. In yet another embodiment, each of the force sensors is preloaded by a bolt that attaches the attitude control assembly to the spacecraft body.
Claims22
An inertial reference system for a spacecraft, the system comprising:
- an attitude control assembly coupled to a spacecraft body at a plurality of attachment points;
- and
- a plurality of force sensors, wherein at least one of the force sensors is integrated at each of the attachment points.
A method spacecraft body inertial information, comprising the steps of:
- providing three attitude control assemblies that are orthogonally positioned with respect to each other;
- providing a first pair of colinear force sensors on a first axis and a second pair of colinear force sensors on a second axis for each of the attitude control assemblies, wherein the first and second axes are orthogonal, and wherein the first and second pair of colinear force sensors are positioned between the control assemblies and the spacecraft body;
- calculating two rotational velocities and two rotational accelerations based on outputs provided by the force sensors for each of the attitude control assemblies;
- and
- averaging the rotational velocities and the rotational accelerations to minimize errors in the information provided by the force sensors.
An inertial reference system for a spacecraft, the system comprising:
- three attitude control assemblies coupled to a spacecraft body at a plurality of attachment points, wherein the three attitude control assemblies are orthogonally positioned with respect to each other;
- and
- a plurality of force sensors, wherein at least one of the force sensors is integrated at each of the attachment points.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.