Union Aerospace

Archive for September, 2011

Rotation rate estimation for our RCS+IMU (reaction control system/inertial measuring unit)
The module includes a 3-axes rate gyro, 3-axes accelerometer and control hardware for microthrusters.
It will work together with the optical navigation module, reaction wheels and thrusters beeing able to determine its attitude and position in space, tracing its flight path and perform desaturation and midcourse corrections.
Fixed point arithmetic on quaternions and kalman filters will be used for fast and accurate calculations. (Paul Kocyla Sep2011)

Desktop Delta-V workshop in Providence, RI

Paul Kocyla joined the Desktop Delta-V workshop this year. The topic was safe propulsion for small spacecrafts.
He gave a lecture on plasma electrolysis propulsion for cubesats.

Navigation module prototype v2.0

The next navigation module prototype is ready for testing under real space conditions. This includes high vacuum, radiation, sunlight exposure and a shaking test to simulate forces during the launch.
The module is an embedded camera system with fast algorithms for determining the position of the sun and planets´ horizons for estimation of attitude and position in space. Star tracking tests are pending.
A monitoring board (right side) is connected to the module to measure the temperatures of the module´s components and all system voltages and currents. (10 Sep. 2011, Paul Kocyla)