초록 ▼

An improved system and method for ejecting and stabilizing a satellite/perigee stage assembly from a shuttle or orbiter type craft in space where the satellite includes gyros aligned parallel to three orthogonal axes, a computer, and spin and attitude control thrusters is described. The method compr

An improved system and method for ejecting and stabilizing a satellite/perigee stage assembly from a shuttle or orbiter type craft in space where the satellite includes gyros aligned parallel to three orthogonal axes, a computer, and spin and attitude control thrusters is described. The method comprises the steps of orienting the shuttle such that the perigee motor is pointing in the desired firing attitude, initializing said gyros and initializing the attitude determination algorithm in the spacecraft\s computer, ejecting the spacecraft/perigee stage assembly without spin, after ejecting, slowly spinning the assembly about a desired spin axis, damping the assembly\s nutation and precessing the assembly to the initial attitude while slowly spinning, and when at the initial attitude, spinning up the assembly for perigee motor firing.

대표청구항 ▼

A method of launching a spacecraft/perigee stage assembly from a launch vehicle where said spacecraft includes a computer comprising the steps of: initializing an attitude determination algorithm in the spacecraft\s computer when said assembly is in the cargo bay of the launch vehicle; providing a r

A method of launching a spacecraft/perigee stage assembly from a launch vehicle where said spacecraft includes a computer comprising the steps of: initializing an attitude determination algorithm in the spacecraft\s computer when said assembly is in the cargo bay of the launch vehicle; providing a reference target attitude into said computer; ejecting the assembly from the launch vehicle without spin; after ejection spinning the assembly about the desired spin axis at a slow rate; precessing the assembly such that the assembly is generally pointing in the direction of the reference target attitude representing the desired perigee stage firing attitude; and spinning up the spacecraft/perigee stage assembly to a higher spin rate.