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Autonomous orbit control that held a satellite in place for 29 days
Microcosm's patented Orbit Control Kit moves orbit control from the ground to the spacecraft. It cuts ground operations cost and system risk.
How it works
The software controls in-track position with simple geometric calculations. It does not run a full orbit propagation. For low Earth orbit missions, it holds the in-track position to about 1 km.
The same approach reduces the work that ground crews do to keep a spacecraft in its orbit. NanoEye uses it. See NanoEye.
TacSat-2
TacSat-2 launched in December 2006. It ran several Orbit Control Kit experiments. The results build on the UoSAT-12 test.
Y. Plam, R. Van Allen, T. Bauer and J. Wertz presented the results at the 31st AAS Guidance and Control Conference in Breckenridge, Colorado, February 1 to 6, 2008.
UoSAT-12 flight results
Microcosm demonstrated autonomous in-track and cross-track control in flight in 1999. The test used navigation data from an experimental GPS receiver. J.R. Wertz and co-authors reported it at the 23rd AAS Guidance and Control Conference in February 2000.
| Spacecraft | UoSAT-12, built by Surrey Satellite Technology Laboratory |
|---|---|
| Orbit | 650 km, 65 degree inclination |
| Funding | Air Force Research Laboratory, Space Vehicles Directorate |
| Test length | 29 days, from September 23, 1999 |
| Ascending-node timing | 0.12 s standard deviation, about 0.93 km in-track |
| Burns | 53 burns, 73.3 mm/s of total delta-V, all positive for drag make-up |
| GPS outages | Up to 8 hours continuous and up to 11 hours in 24 hours |
| Thrust calibration | First off by a factor of 2, corrected during the test |
| Drift without control | About 4,500 km in-track over the previous 4 months |
The system kept ascending-node timing tight despite the thrust error and GPS outages. Other propulsion experiments ended the test early.
Ask about orbit control
Tell us your orbit, spacecraft and operations goals.
Or write to microcosm@smad.com or call (310) 539-2306.