T0083-S Design and Development of a Micro Satellite Attitude Control System

Program start date is on hold until Space Act Agreement is signed.  Placeholder date of January 2014 is used as placeholder.

This study proposes the utilization of novel Carpal wrist joint mechanisms (known as the “Canfield Joint”) as the 3 DOF gimbal for control moment gyro momentum management. By placing a control moment gyroscope on the wrist joint, singularity free solution to change the angular momentum of a spacecraft can be developed. Demonstrated for efficacy is a pair of Canfield gimbal mounted CMGs as a unified attitude control solution for small spacecraft (called the Micro Satellite Attitude Control - MSAC system); that by solving the associated modeling and control issues, this study proposes to derive the requisite steering laws for micro satellite momentum management and precision pointing.