Attitude determination system
US11579240B2 · kind B2 · utility
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20References
20Claims
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Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 21, 2017 |
| Grant date | Feb 14, 2023 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 16, 2040 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01S3/7862
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
An instrument (20) determines the attitude of a spacecraft (3) on which it is mounted, by interacting incident light (11) from the Sun with one or more light conditioning elements (12) and thereby forming a diffraction pattern at a photo-sensitive detector (13). The intensity distribution of light on the detector (13) is dependent on the angle of incidence of the light (11). An on-board computer (16) determines a direction vector to the Sun based on the light diffraction pattern detected by the detector (13).
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.