Matches 151 - 200 out of 218 < 1 2 3 4 5 >
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5140525 Unified spacecraft attitude control system  
An attitude control system for a spacecraft includes sensors for generating attitude control signals and logic for producing torque demand signals in the form of a T d matrix. The thrusters are...
5132910 Method and a device for aligning a space vehicle, particularly a geostationary satellite, in a reference direction  
A method and arrangement for aligning a space vehicle with respect to a reference object is disclosed. A measuring direction is obtained by determining the angular orientation direction of the...
5130931 Spacecraft attitude and velocity control system  
A spacecraft attitude and/or velocity control system includes a controller which responds to at least attitude errors to produce command signals representing a force vector F and a torque vector T,...
5124925 Method for controlling east/west motion of a geostationary satellite  
A method for East/West stationkeeping of a geostationary satellite maintains the osculating value of longitude from exceeding a specified deadband for a specified drift period between maneuvers. In...
5109345 Closed-loop autonomous docking system  
An autonomous docking system is provided which produces commands for the steering and propulsion system of a chase vehicle used in the docking of that chase vehicle with a target vehicle. The...
5109346 Autonomous spacecraft navigation system  
A method and corresponding apparatus for providing spacecraft attitude, position and orbit data without the need for externally supplied data. Using onboard observations of the earth, sun and moon,...
5107434 Three-axis spacecraft attitude control using polar star sensor  
A three-axis attitude control system for a spacecraft in an equatorial orbit includes at least a horizon sensor for producing pitch-representative signals. A star sensor has a boresight parallel to...
5101356 Moving vehicle attitude measuring system  
A system for determining attitude of airborne vehicles or surface vehicles is provided with three fixed position antennas separated from each other by a predetermined calibrated distance. Each...
5100084 Method and apparatus for inclined orbit attitude control for momentum bias spacecraft  
The present invention is a method and apparatus to control a pointing trajectory of an aim point with respect to one or more targets for a momentum bias spacecraft in an orbit inclined relative to...
5077561 Method and apparatus for tracking satellites in inclined orbits  
A computerized antenna mount system for continuously tracking a satellite in geosynchronous orbit that has an inclined orbit with respect to the equator. An antenna mount that automatically adjusts...
5062051 Method for observing by scanning a celestial body and for measuring an angular velocity of a space vehicle, observation system for its implementation, and space vehicle comprising same  
A method and apparatus to perform the observation and imaging from a space vehicle by scanning of a celestial body with reference to a scanning axis, forming successively two signals corresponding...
5058836 Adaptive autopilot  
A control system for the reentry phase of a reentry type vehicle with the vehicle having aerodynamic control surfaces for controlling the attitude of the vehicle during reentry includes an...
5054719 Active three-axis attitude control system for a geostationary satellite  
An attitude control system for a stabilized geostationary satellite comprising at least one terrestrial detector (T 1 ) and a stellar detector oriented towards the North further comprises: a...
5047945 Residual magnetic dipole cancellation system for satellites  
The magnitude and direction of the residual magnetic field or dipole of an orbiting spacecraft is estimated from the attitude-perturbing effects of its interaction with the magnetic field of the...
5042752 Apparatus for controlling the attitude of and stabilizing an elastic body  
A device is disclosed for regulating a set value and/or for stabilizing elastic objects subject to spin and free to move around their axis of rotation, in particular aircraft and spacecraft. For...
5025381 Attitude control compensator for flexible spacecraft  
An attitude control loop for a spacecraft uses a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller for control about an axis. The spacecraft body has at least a primary mechanical resonance. The...
5020745 Reaction wheel fricton compensation using dither  
A reaction-wheel stabilized spacecraft reduces attitude errors at wheel reversals by application of a dither component to the wheel torque command signal.
4954833 Method for determining astronomic azimuth  
An improved method for fixing position of a land-based target site with respect to a reference site in the natural coordinate frame comprising the steps of determining geodetic azimuth between the...
4931942 Transition control system for spacecraft attitude control  
A method for controlling transition from thruster control to momentum wheel control to minimize nutation angle and transition time in a three-axis stabilized spacecraft employing an internal body...
4916622 Attitude control system  
An attitude control system using magnetic torquing is enhanced using a momentum wheel which is pivoted if the sensed error signal about the roll axis exceeds a given threshold. The momentum wheel...
4912475 Techniques for determining orbital data  
Techniques are disclosed for determining orbital data of space borne vehicles including earth satellites such as those of the NAVSTAR Global Positioning System. Each of a set of such satellites...
4883244 Satellite attitude determination and control system with agile beam sensing  
Agile (electronically steerable) beam sensing with associated on-board processing, previously used exclusively for positioning of antennas for beam formation and tracking in communications systems,...
4848706 Spacecraft attitude control using coupled thrusters  
An attitude control system for a three-axis controlled spacecraft (1) in which the location of thrusters causes significant cross-coupling torques. A thruster command conditioning electronics...
4837699 Method for controlling the spin axis attitude of a spinning spacecraft  
A system located on board a geosynchronous satellite for detecting spin axis precession and developing thruster control signals for restoring the spin axis to the desired attitude. Fuel economy is...
4827421 Telecommunications satellite system on quasi-stationary orbits  
In a telecommunications satellite system operating with quasi-stationary orbits and comprising a plurality of earth satellites having elliptical orbits appearing at nearly the same location in...
4827422 Fan scan horizon sensor for a spin stabilized satellite  
Three axis attitude information is provided by a horizon sensor for a spin stabilized satellite having an optical system on the spinning member viewing normal to the spin axis with a linear array...
4817001 Method of correcting navigation system errors caused by drift  
In a two way ranging system of the type employing pseudonoise spread spectrum codes there is provided a method for correcting the navigational system of one of two moving stations in space to...
4791573 State-deviation-estimation circuit employing a phase-locked-loop phase reference  
A system (34) for determining deviations in the state of motion of a projectile (10) from its intended state includes a comparison module (38) that receives the outputs S of a sensor array (36)....
4757964 Method for controlling the attitude of a spinning body in orbit  
A method for passively stabilizing the attitude of a spinning orbiting body subject to orbital precession to maintain the spin axis orientation of the body essentially fixed and stable relative to...
4758957 Spacecraft stabilization system and method  
A method and system is described for simultaneously precessing and nutation damping a spinning spacecraft that includes a computer, thrusters for precession and nutation damping and gyros aligned...
4752884 Precision platform pointing controller for a dual-spin spacecraft  
A pointing apparatus for a dual-spin spacecraft utilizing a first sensor for sensing the time of arrival of an inertial attitude reference as the spinning portion of the spacecraft rotates, and a...
4658361 Method and apparatus for determining satellite attitude by using star sensor  
An apparatus for determining attitude of a satellite by using a star sensor includes a ground terminal equipped with a data processing unit and star catalogue, a star sensor, an estimating the unit...
4521855 Electronic on-orbit roll/yaw satellite control  
Disclosed is a method and apparatus estimating yaw error and roll and yaw disturbance torques from measured roll error and yaw momentum on a continuous on-orbit basis in an orbiting satellite. The...
4504912 Satellites and roll/yaw controls therefor  
In the disclosed satellite and arrangement therefor, roll or yaw of a satite with pitch momentum bias and travelling on a substantially polar orbit with the aid of a coil interacting with the...
4494211 Balanced system for ranging and synchronization between satellite pairs  
A balanced ranging and synchronization (R&S) system for a master(M)-slave satellite pair including a clock, a transmitter, a receiver, a time difference measuring device and a calculating device on...
4383661 Flight control system for a remote-controlled missile  
A ground station forming part of a system for controlling the flight of a missile comprises two cascaded computers, the first of these computers generating guidance instructions on the basis of...
4370716 Active nutation control system for space vehicle  
An active nutation control system for a space vehicle spinning about a geometric axis has thrusters for creating an external torque about an axis transverse to the first. The amplitude of the...
4325124 System for controlling the direction of the momentum vector of a geosynchronous satellite  
A system for compensating the disturbance torques applied to a satellite, which eliminates the requirement for a thruster control loop. The disturbance torque itself is used as the compensating...
4320287 Target vehicle tracking apparatus  
Vehicle tracking and position predicting apparatus includes an improved Kalman velocity filter feedback loop having a forward gain matrix for loop coordinate error factors and those of their...
4310884 Microcomputer-controlled portable satellite signal simulator for exploration systems, and method of use  
In accordance with the invention, satellite navigation, receiver system of an exploration system for exploring for hydrocarbons in earth formations can be tested for fieldworthiness using a...
4114841 Magnetic torquing system for changing the spin rate of an orbiting satellite  
The angular momentum of a tumbling orbiting satellite is changed to reduce the spinning of the spacecraft such that the spacecraft can operate in an essentially stabilized condition. The change in...
4108400 Dual mode guidance system  
A dual mode missile guidance system employing a passive anti-radiation ser for midcourse guidance and an alternate sensor for terminal guidance. A broadband, body mounted conformal antenna...
4102521 System for signal coding  
1. In a system for the coding of guidance signals which are produced at a control center and after their coding transmitted to a body to be guided, a control center consisting of a command...
4044237 Missile maneuver concept  
A lifting body missile is controlled by pitch and roll commands wherein the aw autopilot is caused to change in accordance with the roll and estimated angle of attack input information. A command...
3944172 Attitude control for space vehicle  
Method of providing position, e.g. attitude control for space vehicles having control thrusters producing thrust for imparting momentum upon the vehicle, further having a control apparatus for the...
3906204 Satellite positioning apparatus  
A new and improved apparatus for determining the position of a vehicle or vessel on the earth's surface by processing signals sent from a satellite, based on the doppler shift in frequency of the...
3866229 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY DETERMINING POSITION-MOTION STATE OF A MOVING OBJECT  
This invention relates to a method and means of determining at least one dimension of the position-motion state of one or more points relative to at least one reference point by performing a...
3866025 SPACECRAFT ATTITUDE CONTROL SYSTEM  
A system wherein orbit-adjust thrusters of a Pitch Momentum Bias spacecraft are used to perform both orbital inclination adjustment and roll and/or yaw attitude control. A strapdown inertial...
3834653 CLOSED LOOP ROLL AND YAW CONTROL FOR SATELLITES  
A magnetic torquing control system for the attitude control of pitch momentum biased satellites utilizing a closed loop for roll-axis control by interacting the satellite's magnetic dipole with the...
3747095 SYNCHRONOUS SATELLITE TRACKING SYSTEM  
A synchronous earth satellite typically describes a figure "8" pattern because the plane of its orbit is generally inclined and/or elliptical. To satisfactorily track this satellite motion, the...
Matches 151 - 200 out of 218 < 1 2 3 4 5 >