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:
Sep. 20, 1994
Filed:
Apr. 28, 1992
Applicant:
Inventors:
Scott W Tilley, Belmont, CA (US);
Tung Y Liu, Union City, CA (US);
John S Higham, Mountain View, CA (US);
Assignee:
Space Systems/Loral, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
B64G / ; B64G / ; F03H / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
364459 ; 364434 ; 244-321 ; 244164 ; 244171 ; 60201 ;
Abstract
A spacecraft (201) maintains its north-south positioning by using one of two pairs of single-gimballed throttled thrusters (221-224) on a face of the spacecraft (201). The throttles (118) and gimbals (116) of the thrusters (221-224) are controlled to produce torques on the spacecraft (201) that will maintain a desired attitude for the spacecraft (201) while simultaneously desaturating the momentum stabilizing wheels ( 120, 121 ) of the spacecraft (201).