Engineering topics

Hoffman, D. P.

Publications and source records attributed to Hoffman, D. P..

5 records

NASA NTRS1983

The HEAO experience - design through operations

The design process and performance of the NASA High Energy Astronomy Observatories (HEAO-1, 2, and 3) are surveyed from the initiation of the program in 1968 through the end of HEAO-3 operation in May, 1981, with a focus on the attitude control and determination subsystem (ACDS). The science objectives, original and revised overall design concepts, final design for each spacecraft, and details of the ACDS designs are discussed, and the stages of the ACDS design process, including redefinition to achieve 50 percent cost reduction, detailed design of common and mission-unique hardware and software, unit qualification, subsystem integration, and observatory-level testing, are described. Overall and ACDS performance is evaluated for each mission and found to meet or exceed design requirements despite some difficulties arising from errors in startracker-ACDS-interface coordination and from gyroscope failures. These difficulties were resolved by using the flexibility of the software design. The implicationns of the HEAO experience for the design process of future spacecraft are suggested.

Hoffman, D. P.↗

NASA NTRS1978

HEAO attitude reference design

The paper deals with the precision onboard attitude reference implemented as part of the attitude control and determination subsystem for the three High Energy Astronomy Observatories (HEAO-A, HEAO-B, and HEAO-C) in the HEAO scientific spacecraft program. The first observatory (HEAO-A, designated HEAO-1 when in orbit) was launched successfully into near-earth orbit on August 12, 1977. The HEAO attitude reference, analysis techniques for performance prediction, and flight results from the HEAO-1 observatory during its first months of operation. The HEAO-B design is specifically described and analyzed in terms of gyro processing, kinematic integration, ground update algorithm, and star tracker update algorithm. Attitude reference performance estimates are also discussed. It is shown that the orbital performance of the attitude reference correlates very well with the developmental predictions, thereby validating the analytical techniques used during the development. This validation provides a firm basis from which to extrapolate to other applications and related design concepts.

Hoffman, D. P.↗

NASA NTRS1978

On-orbit experience with the HEAO attitude control subsystem

The first satellite (HEAO-1) in the High Energy Astronomy Observatory Program series was launched successfully on Aug. 12, 1977. To date it has completed over nine months of orbital operation in a science data gathering mode. During this period all attitude control modes have been exercised and all primary mission objectives have been achieved. This paper highlights the characteristics of the attitude control subsystem design and compares the predicted performance with the actual flight operations experience. Environmental disturbance modeling, component hardware/software characteristics, and overall attitude control performance are reviewed and are found to compare very well with the prelaunch analytical predictions. Brief comments are also included regarding the operations aspects of the attitude control subsystem. The experience in this regard demonstrates the effectiveness of the design flexibility afforded by the presence of a general purpose digital processor in the subsystem flight hardware implementation.

Hoffman, D. P.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Guide star targeting success for the HEAO-B observatory

The statistics associated with the successful selection and acquisition of guide stars as attitude benchmarks for use in reorientation maneuvers of the HEAO-B observatory are considered as a function of the maneuver angle, initial attitude uncertainties, and the pertinent celestial region. Success likelihoods in excess of 0.99 are predicted assuming anticipated gyro and star tracker error sources. The maneuver technique and guide star selection constraints are described in detail. The results presented are specialized numerically to the HEAO-B observatory. However, the analytical techniques developed are considered applicable to broader classes of spacecraft requiring celestial targeting.

Farrenkopf, R. L.↗

NASA NTRS1976

HEAO attitude control subsystem - A multimode/multimission design

The initial three satellites in the High Energy Astronomy Observatory (HEAO) series are in the final development stages with the first launch to be in April 1977. The overall program design concept stressed cost reduction through use of hardware standardization for the three configurations and missions. The Attitude Control and Determination Subsystem (ACDS) developed for HEAO was able to achieve significant design commonality in both hardware and software in an implementation which satisfied the performance requirements of the different missions. The ACDS thus provides an example of a multimode/multimission design which should soon be operational.

Hoffman, D. P.↗