Designers of remote sensing spacecraft, including platforms for Mission to Planet Earth and Small Satellites, are driven to provide spacecraft designs that maximize data return and minimize hardware and operating costs. The attitude determination subsystems of these spacecraft must likewise provide maximum capability and versatility at an affordable price. Hughes Danbury Optical Systems has developed the Model HD-1003 Miniature Star Tracker which combines high accuracy, high reliability, and growth margin for `all-stellar' capability in a compact, modular design that meets these spacecraft needs and whose cost is competitive with horizon sensors and digital fine sun sensors. Begun in 1991, our HD-1003 development program has now entered the hardware qualification phase. This paper acquaints spacecraft designers with the design and performance capabilities of the HD-1003 tracker. We highlight the tracker's unique features which include: very small size (191 cubic inches, less lightshade); low weight (less than 8 lb); narrow and wide field-of-view lens options; multi-star tracking (6 stars simultaneously); 6 arc-sec (rms) accuracy; and growth margin for `all-stellar' attitude reference.

Date Published: 12 June 1995
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 2466, Space Guidance, Control, and Tracking II, (12 June 1995); doi: 10.1117/12.211496

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 2466:
Space Guidance, Control, and Tracking II
Walter J. Fowski; Morris M. Birnbaum, Editor(s)