THE LEOSTAR AOCS DESIGN AND VALIDATION

摘要

In the frame of the Leostar program, Matra Marconi Space (MMS) has designed and developed a new generation of AOCS for Low Earth Orbit small satellites. The Leostar AOCS features only two main modes. Based upon a simple magnetic control law, the Acquisition and Safe Hold Mode is fully autonomous, and has no limit of duration. The Normal Mode provides three-axis manoeuvring capability and offers excellent performances in terms of pointing, stability and location, thanks to state-of-the art sensors. Moreover, it is very autonomous, through the use of a GPS receiver and a large field-of-view star tracker. In addition, four thrusters provide orbit control capability. Using innovative methods, among which incremental development and concurrent engineering, the whole avionics development was achieved in less than two years. The Acquisition and Safe Hold mode validation was completed first in 97, then the Normal Mode was successfully validated in 98. An overview of the AOCS design and development approach is given with the major lessons learnt.