NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
Instrument Pointing Capabilities: Past, Present, and FutureThis paper surveys the instrument pointing capabilities of past, present and future space telescopes and interferometers. As an important aspect of this survey, we present a taxonomy for "apples-to-apples" comparisons of pointing performances. First, pointing errors are defined relative to either an inertial frame or a celestial target. Pointing error can then be further sub-divided into DC, that is, steady state, and AC components. We refer to the magnitude of the DC error relative to the inertial frame as absolute pointing accuracy, and we refer to the magnitude of the DC error relative to a celestial target as relative pointing accuracy. The magnitude of the AC error is referred to as pointing stability. While an AC/DC partition is not new, we leverage previous work by some of the authors to quantitatively clarify and compare varying definitions of jitter and time window averages. With this taxonomy and for sixteen past, present, and future missions, pointing accuracies and stabilities, both required and achieved, are presented. In addition, we describe the attitude control technologies used to and, for future missions, planned to achieve these pointing performances.
Document ID
20120000672
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Conference Paper
External Source(s)
Authors
Blackmore, Lars
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Murray, Emmanuell
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Scharf, Daniel P.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Aung, Mimi
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Bayard, David
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Brugarolas, Paul
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Hadaegh, Fred
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Lee, Allan
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Milman, Mark
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Sirlin, Sam
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Kang, Bryan
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 25, 2013
Publication Date
February 4, 2011
Subject Category
Optics
Report/Patent Number
AAS 11-091
Meeting Information
Meeting: AAS Guidance and Control Conference
Location: Breckenridge, CO
Country: United States
Start Date: February 4, 2011
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
celestial targets
space telescopes
interferometers

Available Downloads

There are no available downloads for this record.
No Preview Available