Method, device and computer program for determining the position of a satellite using a star tracker

Abstract

A method for determining the position of a satellite rotating about an axis of rotation using at least a star tracker which is aligned along an optical axis with a recorded light object field, the axis of rotation and the optical axis being at a fixed angle relative to one another and a light sensor having a sensor surface which is perpendicular to the optical axis and contains a sensor coordinate system having an arrangement of light-sensitive pixels in rows being provided. To achieve improved position control of the satellite, image data recorded in the individual rows of the light sensor are recorded row by row and sequentially, the image data for each row are convoluted with a predefined number of pixels over a predefined time interval using a boxcar operator, a light maximum is identified using the boxcar operator, the light maximum is assigned to a location of a light object on the basis of a position of the row and within the row in the sensor coordinate system, and an object list containing light object coordinates, the light maximum and a measurement time is identified from a plurality of light objects using an over the entire sensor coordinate system.