Pointing control system for the Eclipse mission

Paul B. Brugarolas; Tooraj Kia; Diane Li; James W. Alexander

doi:10.1117/12.671068

15 June 2006 Pointing control system for the Eclipse mission

Paul B. Brugarolas, Tooraj Kia, Diane Li, James W. Alexander

Proceedings Volume 6265, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation I: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter; 62653R (2006) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.671068
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2006, Orlando, Florida , United States

Abstract

This paper describes the high precision pointing control system for the Eclipse telescope. Eclipse is a mission under study at the Jet propulsion Laboratory. Eclipse is a space telescope that uses a coronagraph for high-contrast optical astronomy to study planets around nearby stars. Eclipse observations require very precise pointing, 0.01 arcseconds (3- σ) during the exposure periods that could be as long as 1000 seconds. This study shows a two layer pointing approach for achieving these requirements. In the first layer, the spacecraft ACS stabilizes the line-of-sight to 0.15 arcseconds (3- σ). In the second layer, a Fine Steering Mirror centers the star in the occulting mask to the 0.01 arcseconds (3-σ). The knowledge needed to achieve the desired pointing accuracy is provided by a Fine Guidance Camera. In addition, structural and thermal induced jitter is minimized by design, and through the use of reaction wheel isolators and operational constraints.

Citation Download Citation

Paul B. Brugarolas, Tooraj Kia, Diane Li, and James W. Alexander "Pointing control system for the Eclipse mission", Proc. SPIE 6265, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation I: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter, 62653R (15 June 2006); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.671068

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