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Results of the Magnetometer Navigation (MAGNAV) Inflight ExperimentThe Magnetometer Navigation (MAGNAV) algorithm is currently running as a flight experiment as part of the Wide Field Infrarad Explorer Post-Science Engineer- ing Testbed. Initialization of MAGNAV occured on September 4, 2004. MAGNAV is designed to autonomously estimate the spacecraft orbit, attitude, and rate using magnetometer and sun sensor data. Since the earth s magnetic field is a function of time and position, and since time is known quite precisely, the differences between the computed magnetic field and measured magnetic field components, as measured by the magnetometer throughout the entire spacecraft orbit, are a function of the spacecraft trajectory and attitude errors. Therefore, these errors are used to estimate both trajec- tory and attitude. In addition, the time rate of change of the magnetic field vector is used to estimate the spacecraft rotation rate. The estimation of the attitude and tra- jectory is augmented with the rate estimation into an Extended Kalman filter blended with a pseudc-linear Kalman filter. Sun sensor data is also used to improve the accu- racy and observability of the attitude and rate estimates. This test serves to validate MAGNAV as a single low cost navigation system which utilizes reliable, flight qualified sensors. MAGNAV is intended as a backup algorithm, an initialization algorithm, or possibly a prime navigation algorithm for a mission with coarse constraints.
Document ID
20040030476
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Other
Authors
Thienel, Julie
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Harman, Rick
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Bar-Itzhack, Itzhack
(Technion - Israel Inst. of Tech. Haifa, Israel)
Date Acquired
August 21, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2004
Subject Category
Space Communications, Spacecraft Communications, Command And Tracking
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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