HIGH-PRECISION STEERING AND POINTING CONTROL OF A LUNAR/SATELLITE LASER RANGING TELESCOPE

摘要

The establishment of a new fundamental space geodetic station in South Africa has been proposed. A Satellite Laser Ranging System (SLRS) utilising a 1 m optical telescope enhanced for Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) will form part of the geodetic instrumentation to be located at the new fundamental space geodetic station. The Tracking and Mount Control (T&MC) subsystem of the ranging system will require development of high-precision steering and pointing control for the telescope. A working model using National Instruments (NI) LabVIEW and an NI CompactRIO interface will be developed. We present an overview of this component of the ranging system and sketch the way forward. Envisaged outcome of this project is to achieve arc-second accurate steering and pointing of the telescope.