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Attitude Determination and Control System for the University of Missouri-Rolla Satellite Mission (UMR SAT)
Advances in the Astronautical Sciences
  • M. W. Dancer
  • Henry J. Pernicka, Missouri University of Science and Technology
  • J. D. Searcy
  • D. R. Walker
Abstract

This paper outlines the development and implementation of the Attitude Determination and Control System for the University of Missouri-Rolla Satellite mission (UMR SAT), one of eleven university entries into the Nanosat 4 competition administered by the Air Force Research Lab. The core objective of the mission is the development of autonomous control of formation flight. Due to budgetary constraints, this objective must be achieved using determination sensors and control hardware limited by mass, volume and cost. Attitude determination of the UMR SAT spacecraft is accomplished using only three-axis magnetometer measurements. Because the magnetic field measurement, provided by the magnetometer, only provides two-axis attitude information, the magnetic field derivative is used as well to resolve the third axis. The magnetic field derivative is obtained by filtering the magnetometer measurements with a standard extended Kalman filter. Both the magnetic field and derivative vectors are compared with a magnetic field model, provided to UMR SAT by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, to determine the real time attitude and angular velocity of the satellite. Attitude control is attained using low-cost magnetic coils and eight cold gas thrusters. The control software will use the coils and thrusters, appropriate to the current mission mode, to maintain the required satellite attitude.

Meeting Name
30th Annual AAS Rocky Mountain Guidance and Control Conference
Department(s)
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Keywords and Phrases
  • Autonomous Control,
  • Budgetary Constraints,
  • Cold Gas Thrusters,
  • Formation Flight
Document Type
Article - Conference proceedings
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2007 Univelt Inc., All rights reserved.
Publication Date
1-1-2007
Publication Date
01 Jan 2007
Citation Information
M. W. Dancer, Henry J. Pernicka, J. D. Searcy and D. R. Walker. "Attitude Determination and Control System for the University of Missouri-Rolla Satellite Mission (UMR SAT)" Advances in the Astronautical Sciences (2007)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/henry-pernicka/7/