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:
Dec. 07, 1999
Filed:
Sep. 22, 1997
Applicant:
Assignee:
Space Systems/Loral, Inc., Palo Alto, CA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
B64G / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
244168 ; 244164 ; 244165 ;
Abstract
A method in accordance with this invention for maintaining a spacecraft in a desired orbital configuration, comprises the steps of: (a) recording a history of yaw momentum stored in momentum wheels; (b) estimating an average inertial torque and momentum over a previous time interval (such as one day); (c) determining a desired change in inertial torques using PID control law; (d) commanding a change in satellite trim tab and solar array position from a desired change in solar torque; and (e) slewing the trim tab and solar array a desired amount.