Method, system and apparatus for spacecraft attitude control error reduction in trajectory interpolation

US12371194B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• The Government of the United States of America, as represented by the Secretary of the Navy · US

Inventors

• Roberto Cristi · Pebble Beach, US
• Joshua Levitas · Monterey, US
• Mark Karpenko · East Garrison, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Dec 12, 2023
• Grant date: Jul 29, 2025
• Expiry date: Feb 19, 2044

Classification

• Technology area (CPC B): Performing Operations; Transporting
• CPC primary: B64G1/36
• WIPO field: Transport
• WIPO sector: Mechanical engineering

Abstract

A method, apparatus and system for controlling an attitude of a spacecraft, the spacecraft including an attitude control system operatively associated with a ground-based spacecraft control system. According to an exemplary embodiment, the spacecraft attitude control system uses a B-spline interpolator for commanding the spacecraft and a Kalman filtering process is used to estimate B-spline interpolator coefficients. The methods and systems disclosed herein can be implemented in, for example, executable machine code and/or integrated circuit hardware.