Long-term stability of GOES-8 and -9 attitude control

James L. Carr

doi:10.1117/12.254116

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18 October 1996 Long-term stability of GOES-8 and -9 attitude control

James L. Carr

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Proceedings Volume 2812, GOES-8 and Beyond; (1996) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.254116
Event: SPIE's 1996 International Symposium on Optical Science, Engineering, and Instrumentation, 1996, Denver, CO, United States

Abstract

An independent audit of the in-orbit behavior of the GOES-8 and GOES-9 satellites has been conducted for the NASA/GSFC. This audit utilized star and landmark observations from the GOES imager to determine long-term histories for spacecraft attitude, orbital position, and instrument internal misalignments. The paper presents results from this audit. Long-term drifts are found in the attitude histories, whereas the misalignment histories are shown to be diurnally stable. The GOES image navigation and registration system is designed to compensate for instrument internal misalignments, and both the diurnally repeatable and drift components of the attitude. Correlations between GOES-8 and GOES-9 long-term roll and pitch drifts implicate the Earth sensor as the origin of these observed drifts. This results clearly demonstrates the enhanced registration stability to be obtained with stellar inertial attitude determination replacing or supplementing Earth sensor control on future GOES missions.

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James L. Carr "Long-term stability of GOES-8 and -9 attitude control", Proc. SPIE 2812, GOES-8 and Beyond, (18 October 1996); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.254116

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