Determining Spacecraft Motion from Four Star Sensor Measurements

The BOKZ-M60 star sensor (a module that measures the coordinates of stars) has been designed for determining the parameters of the orientation of the intrinsic coordinate system relative to the inertial system from observations of stellar sky sections. The methods and results of processing of measurements by a set of four BOKZ-M60 sensors on the Resurs-P satellite no. 2 have been described. The time interval at which the satellite was in orbital orientation exceeds three orbital revolutions (19003 s). The joint processing of measurements by the four sensors conducted at the same time instants allowed the sensors to be associated with the universal coordinate system. With a root-mean-square error of less than 0.4′′ for each angle of rotation around its axes, this system is consistent with the model of the satellite’s rotational motion. The position of the universal system with respect to the instrumental coordinate system of the satellite was determined from the angular velocity measurements. Here, the root-mean-square errors for the values determined by the angles of rotation of the universal system around its axes were 0.044°, 0.051°, and 0.18°. The low-frequency (with frequencies less than 0.05 Hz) variations in the positions of intrinsic sensor coordinate systems relative to the universal system do not exceed 10′′. These are periodic variations with a fundamental frequency equal to the orbital frequency. The root-mean-square values of high-frequency components of these variations do not exceed 18′′.