Airbus Defence and Space Sas

Eads Astrium Sas

Philippe Laurens

Nicolas Cuilleron

Jean Sperandei

Valerio Moro

Jeremy Lesprier

A method for orbit control of a satellite in orbit around the Earth and for desaturation of an angular momentum storage device of satellite is disclosed having two articulated arms each supporting a propulsion unit. The method includes determining a maneuver plan having at least two thrust maneuvers, a first thrust maneuver to be executed using the propulsion unit of one of the articulated arms and a second thrust maneuver to be executed using the propulsion unit of the other articulated arm, controlling the articulated arms and the propulsion units according to the maneuver plan, at least one of the first and second thrust maneuvers being a thrust maneuver referred to as discontinuous, composed of at least two separate consecutive thrust sub-maneuvers.

Method for orbit control and desaturation of a satellite by means of articulated arms supporting propulsion units

A method () for orbit control of a satellite () in Earth orbit and for desaturation of an angular momentum storage device of the satellite, the satellite () including an articulated arm () suitable for moving a propulsion unit () within a motion volume included in a half-space delimited by an orbital plane when the satellite is in a mission attitude, the method () including a single-arm control mode using only the propulsion unit () carried by the articulated arm (), the single-arm control mode using a maneuvering plan including only thrust maneuvers to be executed when the satellite () is located within an angular range of at most 180&#xb0; centered on a target node in the orbit of the satellite (), including two thrust maneuvers to be performed respectively upstream and downstream of the target node.

Method for orbit control and desaturation of a satellite by means of a single articulated arm carrying a propulsion unit

A device for determining an attitude of a satellite is disclosed, the satellite having an attitude control system comprising a gyroscopic actuator including a flywheel mounted so as to be rotatable around an axis of rotation and carried by a gimbal articulated to rotate around an axis of rotation. The device includes an attitude sensor configured to measure the attitude of the satellite, a position sensor configured to measure the angular position of the gimbal around its axis of rotation, a speed sensor configured to measure the rotational speed of the flywheel, and a processing circuit configured to determine the attitude of the satellite by using the measurement of the angular position of the gimbal, the measurement of the rotational speed of the flywheel, and the measurement of the attitude of the satellite.

Device and method for determining the attitude of a satellite equipped with gyroscopic actuators, and satellite carrying such a device

A method of controlling the attitude of a spacecraft in spinning around itself with a non-zero total angular momentum H. The spacecraft includes a set of inertia flywheels configured to form an internal angular momentum H. The axis of the total angular momentum His aligned with a principal axis of inertia of the spacecraft, in the course of which the inertia flywheels are controlled to form an internal angular momentum H. The following expression, in which J is the inertia matrix of the spacecraft:()is negative if the principal axis of inertia targeted is the axis of maximum inertia of the spacecraft and is positive if the principal axis inertia targeted is the axis of minimum inertia of the spacecraft.

Method and device for controlling attitude of a spacecraft

A method to control a sunlight acquisition phase of a spacecraft with a nonzero angular momentum of an axis D. The spacecraft includes a solar generator configured to rotate about an axis Y. The spacecraft actuators are controlled to place the spacecraft in an intermediate orientation in which the axis Y is substantially orthogonal to the axis D. The solar generator is controlled to orientate the solar generator towards the sun. The spacecraft actuators are controlled to reduce the angular momentum of the spacecraft. The actuators of the spacecraft engine are controlled to place the spacecraft in an acquisition orientation in which the axis Y is substantially orthogonal to the direction of the sun with respect to the spacecraft.

Method and device for control of a sunlight acquisition phase of a spacecraft

A vibration isolation device designed to be positioned between a structure () and an equipment anchor plate (), includes a lattice made of bars, with each bar including at least one axial actuator (), the lattice being an active hexapod including six identical isolation bars () positioned according to a regular geometry, the six bars () being arranged such that the control of the tension-compression forces in each of the six bars () makes possible the force and torque control of six separate degrees of freedom at the interface between the structure and the equipment, so as to produce effective isolation along all the system's degrees of freedom. At least one end-fitting of each bar consists of an element () made of elastomeric material (called 'elastomeric element').

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Toulouse, France

Philippe Laurens