초록 ▼

A method of simultaneously controlling East/West and North/South positioning and unloading momentum of a spacecraft while orbiting an object. The spacecraft has a thruster array and a momentum accumulator. The method entails moving said spacecraft towards a node of the orbit. At a predetermined posi

A method of simultaneously controlling East/West and North/South positioning and unloading momentum of a spacecraft while orbiting an object. The spacecraft has a thruster array and a momentum accumulator. The method entails moving said spacecraft towards a node of the orbit. At a predetermined position on the orbit, separate from the node, a thruster of the thruster array is fired so as to control the orbital position of the spacecraft. While the thruster is being fired, momentum is dumped from the momentum accumulator at the predetermined position so that any loss in control in the attitude of the spacecraft is reduced.

대표청구항 ▼

[ We claim:] [1.] A method of simultaneously controlling East/West and North/South positioning and unloading momentum of a spacecraft while orbiting the Earth, said spacecraft having a thruster array, an on-board processor capable of receiving stationkeeping commands from a ground station located on

[ We claim:] [1.] A method of simultaneously controlling East/West and North/South positioning and unloading momentum of a spacecraft while orbiting the Earth, said spacecraft having a thruster array, an on-board processor capable of receiving stationkeeping commands from a ground station located on the Earth that correspond to desired spacecraft velocity changes and capable of calculating thruster firing parameters necessary to meet both stationkeeping and momentum dumping requirements of said spacecraft, and a momentum accumulator, said method comprising the steps of:receiving desired spacecraft velocity changes from said ground station;moving said spacecraft towards a node of said orbit;calculating, solely using said on-board processor, thruster firing parameters necessary to meet said stationkeeping requirements and momentum dumping requirements;firing a thruster of said thruster array at a predetermined position on said orbit, separate from said node, so as to control the orbital position of said spacecraft, wherein said predetermined position is calculated by said on-board processor; andsimultaneously dumping momentum from said momentum accumulator at said predetermined position and while said thruster is being fired so that any loss in control in the attitude of said spacecraft is reduced.