Future in ground base attitude support activities

The history of attitude support activities is traced. Support for a conventional mission and for the Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) are compared. The trend is towards more onboard data processing, with the ground computer playing a supportive, rather than governing role. This eliminates the need for large amounts of data transfer, enabling rapid delivery of ancillary data products. In SMM, attitude is included in the telemetry stream. The need for ground support is unlikely to diminish in the near future, since onboard computations still have to be checked.