Flight Results of ESTCube-1 Attitude Determination System

AbstractThis paper presents the characterization and in-orbit validation of the ESTCube-1 attitude determination system (ADS). ESTCube-1 is a one-unit CubeSat built by students and launched on May 7, 2013, to a Sun-synchronous, 700-km, polar low Earth orbit. Its primary mission is to centrifugally d...

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Published in:Journal of aerospace engineering 2016-01, Vol.29 (1)
Main Authors: Slavinskis, Andris, Ehrpais, Hendrik, Kuuste, Henri, Sünter, Indrek, Viru, Jaan, Kütt, Johan, Kulu, Erik, Noorma, Mart
Format: Article
Language:English
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Technical Papers
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Summary:AbstractThis paper presents the characterization and in-orbit validation of the ESTCube-1 attitude determination system (ADS). ESTCube-1 is a one-unit CubeSat built by students and launched on May 7, 2013, to a Sun-synchronous, 700-km, polar low Earth orbit. Its primary mission is to centrifugally deploy a tether as a part of the first in-orbit demonstration of electric solar wind sail (i.e., E-sail) technology. The ADS uses magnetometers, gyroscopic sensors, Sun sensors, and an unscented Kalman filter for attitude determination. Here the performance of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) sensors and results from tuning the system is shared; recalibration, software, and Kalman filter adjustments. The system is validated by comparing the attitude determined by the on-board ADS with the attitude determined from on-board camera images. Uncertainty budgets for both attitude determination methods are estimated. The expanded uncertainty of comparison (95% confidence level, k=2) is 1.75° and the maximum difference between attitudes determined by both methods is 1.43°.
ISSN:0893-1321
1943-5525
DOI:10.1061/(ASCE)AS.1943-5525.0000504