Method and apparatus for spacecraft antenna beam pointing correction

摘要

A pointing system and method for directing a first satellite system instrument to a first target is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of computing the orientation of a first satellite system instrument; computing a position of the satellite using measured orbital data; computing a target line of sight (LOS) vector direction from the satellite to the target using the computed orientation and the computed satellite position, and directing the first instrument to the first target according to the computed target LOS vector. The apparatus comprises at least one attitude sensor for the first instrument and a communicatively coupled satellite navigation system. The satellite navigation system determines the satellite position using measured satellite orbital data. The satellite navigation system computes the orientation of the first instrument using the attitude measurements, and computes the satellite position using measured satellite orbital data. The satellite navigation system also computes a target LOS vector direction from the satellite to the target using the computed orientation and the computed satellite position, and generates a first instrument orientation command from the computed target LOS vector direction. The orientation command is used by the first instrument to direct the instrument in the proper direction.