The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 12, 1991
Filed:
Jun. 26, 1989
Applicant:
Inventors:
David D Otten, Redondo Beach, CA (US);
Robert L Sackheim, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA (US);
Assignee:
TRW Inc., Redondo Beach, CA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
F02K / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
60204 ; 60228 ; 60233 ;
Abstract
Apparatus and a corresponding method for controlling the attitude of a space vehicle during operation of its propulsion engines, without gimbaling of the engines. Two engines are differentially throttled, one above and one below a nominal thrust setting of the engines, in response to an error signal indicative of the difference between an actual attitude angle and a desired attitude angle. Three or four engines can be used to control attitude about two orthogonal axes, or a greater number of engines can be used for redundancy.