Microsatellite system for high-volume orbital telemetry
OwnerL. Philip Sheldon, Jr., Robert Sheldoninventors
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Detailed mapping of the magnetosphere is made possible by deploying hundreds of attitude-impervious microsatellites, in the form of small corner reflectors with piezoelectric mirror surfaces, from a single mother satellite at spacings of as little as 1 km in equatorial and elliptical orbits. The microsatellites carry magnetosensors whose output is transmitted to a ground station by modulating the reflection of a laser beam transmitted to the microsatellite by the ground station. Various refinements of the laser data link are also disclosed.
Claims27
A communication system for space-borne data devices, comprising:
- a. a platform containing a laser beam source;
- b. a data device spaced from said platform and containing a corner reflector receiving and reflecting a laser beam emanating from said source, and a source of data to be transmitted;
- and
- c. a modulator on said data device arranged to transmit said data by varying the surface position of said corner reflector when reflecting said laser beam to modulate the amplitude, phase or frequency of said laser beam.
A satellite system for providing high levels of data telemetry, comprising:
- a. a large plurality of orbiting microsatellites, each microsatellite being in the form of an array of corner reflectors so arranged as to reflect laser beams impinging on said microsatellite from any spatial direction;
- b. an earth-based station arranged to sequentially illuminate said microsatellites with a laser beam;
- and so receive the reflected laser beam therefrom;
- c. instrumentation on said microsatellites arranged to produce data to be transmitted to said earth-based station;
- and
- d. a variable reflectance mirror on said corner reflector so operatively connected to said instrumentation as to modulate said reflected laser beam in accordance with the transmission of said data.
A launch system for microsatellites, comprising:
- a) a mother satellite capable of controlling its orbital attitude;
- b) a rocket arranged to launch said mother satellite, said rocket having a shroud receiving said mother satellite for launch;
- and
- c) a large plurality of launch tubes mounted on said mother satellite, each of said launch tubes containing a microsatellite devoid of attitude control apparatus, each of said launch tubes also containing a single-burn propellant charge for launching said micro satellite.
A method of positioning a large plurality of microsatellites for sampling the magnetosphere at intervals of as little as 1 km, comprising the steps of:
- a) launching a mother satellite carrying a large plurality of corner reflector microsatellites into an orbit intersecting the equatorial plane;
- b) launching a portion of said microsatellites from said mother satellite into an orbit in said equatorial plane;
- and
- c) launching the remainder of said microsatellites from said mother satellite into elliptical orbits.
A communication system for weather-impervious laser communication between a ground station and an extra-atmospheric device receiving and sending data on a laser carrier comprising:
- a) a ground station having radio-frequency transmitting and receiving apparatus;
- and
- b) a platform positioned at an altitude clear of any expected cloud cover, said platform having both radio-frequency and laser transmitting and receiving equipment, and equipment translating a data stream between radio-frequency and laser carriers;
- c) said ground station transmitting data on a radio frequency carrier to said platform for translation and retransmission by said platform to said extra-atmospheric device on a laser carrier, and said platform receiving data on a laser carrier from said extra-atmospheric device for translation and retransmission, by said platform to said ground station on a radio-frequency carrier.
A method for providing between a ground station and a satellite a laser communication path impervious to atmospheric disturbance, comprising the steps of:
- a) simultaneously illuminating said satellite from said ground station with a plurality of laser beams of different frequencies;
- b) reflecting said laser beams as data carriers from said satellite back to said ground station;
- c) comparing said reflected laser beams;
- and
- d) using differences in the data carried by said reflected laser beams to compensate for atmospheric distortion of said laser beams.
A method of initiating laser communication between two orbiting satellites with a single acquisition, comprising the steps of:
- a) acquiring a slave satellite carrying a corner reflector from a master satellite by scanning a volume with a laser beam to detect a reflection thereof;
- b) locking said master satellite onto said reflection;
- and
- c) transmitting data over said laser beam;
- d) detecting said data on said slave satellite;
- and
- e) causing said slave satellite to modulate said reflection to communicate data to said master satellite.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.