Towards Agile Oceanographic Target Tracking with a DGSPCMG Equipped CubeSat^*

The accelerated growth and development of CubeSat projects has proven the capability for small scale autonomous satellites to accomplish significant remote sensing objectives. CubeSats, however, have not yet seen widespread use on oceano-graphic mission objectives. To achieve modern oceanographic remote sensing objectives it is typically required that the satel-lite have the ability to rapidly maneuver towards targets of opportunity. Recent developments in Double-Gimbal Scissored-Pair Control Moment Gyroscope (DGSPCMG) control laws have shown promising results for this actuator to achieve high CubeSat maneuverability. Building on these recent developments, this paper aims to demonstrate high CubeSat agility for oceanographic target tracking and quantify the pointing performance for a complete Attitude Determination and Control System (ADCS) equipped with a DGSPCMG. The expected performance of the proposed ADCS is demonstrated by high fidelity numerical simulations which subject the system to a detailed hypothetical target tracking campaign. For the simulation conditions used in this research, the proposed system is shown to be capable of sub 3 km average mapping errors for a CubeSat in Low-Earth Orbit.