Low-mass surveying satellite having a retroreflector assembly with speed aberration correction

摘要

A space vehicle with a geodesic application intended to cover a trajectory in an orbital plane around a planet, including at least one corner reflector (11), intended to come at least temporarily opposite the said planet, and having a vertex (S), a normal and three facets substantially orthogonal to one another, to within less than one minute of arc, in three edges forming substantially equal angles with this normal, the usable diameter of this corner reflector being equal to at least 3 cm, this vertex being situated, with respect to the centre of mass of this space vehicle, at a distance the projection of which onto a line linking the centre of mass to the centre of the planet remains at any instant at a known value to within variations of less than 5 centimetres. IMAGE