Hughes Aircraft Company

Robert W Adlhoch

Harold E Andrews

An improved mirror pointing method and apparatus which stabilizes a mirror relative to the line-of-sight of the input image. The invention includes an outer gimbal pivotally mounted on a pedestal which is in turn attached to a reference frame. An inner gimbal is pivotally mounted on the outer gimbal and the mirror is separately pivotally mounted on the outer gimbal. A linkage is provided between the inner gimbal and the mirror to stabilize the mirror relative to the line-of-sight of the input image. In a more specific embodiment, the outer gimbal and the inner gimbal are stabilized. Thus, a rate detector is provided for detecting angular turning rates of the inner and outer gimbals in conjunction with torquers and resolvers as is known in the art.

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Canoga Park, CA, United States of America

Robert W Adlhoch