Attitude Determination of a Three-Axis Stabilized Spacecraft Using Star Sensors

摘要

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the application of a six-state discrete Kalman filter for estimates of angular rates based solely on star sensor data. The satellite is in a Molnyia orbit where orbital angular velocity and orbital angular acceleration are predetermined and stored in the on-board computer; such that they will be available each time a star observation is made. A two-axis star sensor will provide two angles to the estimator whereupon the third 'unsensed' angle will be predicted; the rates about all three axes are then estimated. The results show that the rate estimates are accurate to within 10(exp -7) r/s, which is equivalent to the data produced by gyroscopes.