Keywords
Citation
Rigelsford, J. (2003), "Satellite attitude sensor", Sensor Review, Vol. 23 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/sr.2003.08723aad.013
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2003, MCB UP Limited
Satellite attitude sensor
Satellite attitude sensor
Applicant: Canadian Space Agency et al., CanadaPatent number: US6,066,850Publication date: 23 May 2000Title: Satellite attitude sensor using thermal imaging
Keywords: Patents, Sensors, Satellites
An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for satellite orientation and attitude control using an optical overlay of thermal images. This achieves high resolution while maintaining a wide field-of-regard and so permits operation over a wide range of orbital attitudes.
The invention provides a simple, effective method and device for determining satellite orientation and/or attitude with respect to a thermal infrared-emitting target body. The sensor includes a segmented limb-looking mirror to provide multiple fields-of-view within the field-of-regard and superimposes these fields-of-view as images onto a common detector. Multiple channels in a modular form provide redundancy, improved accuracy, and the opportunity of providing more diverse configurations. The utilization of uncooled microbolometer arrays as imaging detectors removes the requirement for additional cooling equipment and permits replacement of individual photodiodes by one- or two-dimensional matrices of detector pixels. These can be used to determine the horizon transition location when the earth/space transition area is imaged onto the detector array.
This method and apparatus can also be used for sensing wildfires on earth from a satellite.