Ultraviolet Three Axis Attitude Sensor

It is becoming increasingly obvious that satellite bus technologies, which have been developed for traditional larger satellite platforms, are not always suitable for use with smallsats. This is due to the intrinsic limitations in size, weight, available power, and cost associated with the latter. The problem is particularly obvious for attitude reference sensors of both the earth and star viewing type. In response to the lack of suitable sensors for this purpose, Honeywell is developing a system that determines three axis attitude through ultraviolet imaging of the earth's limb and adjacent stars. A non-conventional wide angle optics assembly and intensified CCD array are utilized for this purpose. Because of the intrinsic stability of the features being observed and the large number of pixels on which the scene is imaged, it should be possible to obtain accuracies on the order of .05 degrees with a very small and lightweight sensor configuration.