Enhanced SmallSat Agility via CMG-Controlled Bus

As the small satellite industry continues to grow, mission teams continue to look for opportunities to maximize data collection and thus revenue per spacecraft. Many satellites in this class rely on well-understood traditional reaction wheel technology to provide precise pointing and re-orientation capabilities. Control Moment Gyroscopes (CMGs) offer a quantum leap in re-orientation performance as compared to reaction wheels (RW) but are typically utilized on much larger and more complex spacecraft outside the classification of small satellites. While Blue Canyon Technologies’ (BCT) RW-based spacecraft continue to provide high performing on-orbit pointing performance, BCT spacecraft actuated with a cluster of CMGs and coupled with existing optimal attitude trajectory software will provide a significant improvement in spacecraft agility with capability to maneuver between more ground targets per orbit. BCT offers two variants of CMG, the CMG-8 and CMG-12, that can be outfitted inside a new variant of BCT spacecraft, controlled by BCT GN&C systems, or sold stand-alone to provide this improvement in small satellite agility.