Autonomous formation flying sensor for the Starlight Mission
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
StarLight mission autonomous formation flying↗
SEARCH · Search NASA
Results for “StarLight mission autonomous formation flying”
Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Autonomous formation flying sensor for the Star Light Mission
The StarLight Mission, an element of NASA's Origins Program, was designed for first-time demonstration of two technologies: formation flying optical interferometry between spacecraft and autonomous precise formation flying of an array of spacecraft to support optical interferometry. The design overview and results of the technology effort are presented in this paper.
AFF sensor AFF formationf flying sensor autonomous↗
An Overview of the StarLight Mission
An overview of the Starlight Mission is presented. Mission summary: June 2006 launch to heliocentric orbit; Nominal 6 month mission with option of additional 6 month extension; Validate autonomous formation flying system: range control to 10 cm bearing, control to 4 arcmin; Demonstrate formation flying optical interferometry.The original 3 spacecraft design did not fit the budget. 2 spacecraft concept demonstrates all key areas of formation flying interferometry. Collector flown on the surface of a virtual paraboloid, with combiner at the focus. It Gives a baseline of 125 m with a fixed delay of only 14 m.
Lay, Oliver↗
Ka-Band Autonomous Formation Flying Sensor
Ka-band integrated range and bearing-angle formation sensor called the Autonomous Formation Flying (AFF) Sensor has been developed to enable deep-space formation flying of multiple spacecraft. The AFF Sensor concept is similar to that of the Global Positioning System (GPS), but the AFF Sensor would not use the GPS. The AFF Sensor would reside in radio transceivers and signal-processing subsystems aboard the formation-flying spacecraft. A version of the AFF Sensor has been developed for initial application to the two-spacecraft StarLight optical-interferometry mission, and several design investigations have been performed. From the prototype development, it has been concluded that the AFF Sensor can be expected to measure distances and directions with standard deviations of 2 cm and 1 arc minute, respectively, for spacecraft separations ranging up to about 1 km. It has also been concluded that it is necessary to optimize performance of the overall mission through design trade-offs among the performance of the AFF Sensor, the field of view of the AFF Sensor, the designs of the spacecraft and the scientific instruments that they will carry, the spacecraft maneuvers required for formation flying, and the design of a formation-control system.
Tien, Jeffrey↗
Development of a Crosslink Channel Simulator for Simulation of Formation Flying Satellite Systems
Multi-vehicle missions are an integral part of NASA s and other space agencies current and future business. These multi-vehicle missions generally involve collectively utilizing the array of instrumentation dispersed throughout the system of space vehicles, and communicating via crosslinks to achieve mission goals such as formation flying, autonomous operation, and collective data gathering. NASA s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is developing the Formation Flying Test Bed (FFTB) to provide hardware-in- the-loop simulation of these crosslink-based systems. The goal of the FFTB is to reduce mission risk, assist in mission planning and analysis, and provide a technology development platform that allows algorithms to be developed for mission hctions such as precision formation flying, synchronization, and inter-vehicle data synthesis. The FFTB will provide a medium in which the various crosslink transponders being used in multi-vehicle missions can be plugged in for development and test. An integral part of the FFTB is the Crosslink Channel Simulator (CCS),which is placed into the communications channel between the crosslinks under test, and is used to simulate on-orbit effects to the communications channel due to relative vehicle motion or antenna misalignment. The CCS is based on the Starlight software programmable platform developed at General Dynamics Decision Systems which provides the CCS with the ability to be modified on the fly to adapt to new crosslink formats or mission parameters.
Hart, Roger↗