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:
Jun. 10, 2003
Filed:
Jan. 28, 2002
Applicant:
Inventors:
William M. Johnson, Sudbury, MA (US);
Howard Musoff, Brookline, MA (US);
Darryl G. Sargent, Wayland, MA (US);
Jerold P. Gilmore, Westford, MA (US);
Cornelius J. Dennehy, Severna Park, MD (US);
Assignee:
The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc., Cambridge, MA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G06F 7/00 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G06F 7/00 ;
Abstract
The present invention provides methods of and apparatus for determining the inertial attitude of an aerospace vehicle. In one embodiment, the invention provides a rotational astronomical object-sighting concept to determine the inertial attitude of an axis of the aerospace vehicle without the star identification or dragback. In another embodiment, the invention provides an attitude measurement apparatus comprising a high sensitivity optical sensor and a low power inertial sensor.