Abstract
Present trends in space vehicles are leading to smaller platforms which represent a new set of challenges and requirements. For instance, because of their smaller inertias, these vehicles are likely to be more sensitive to disturbances and experience higher levels of attitude jitter. This higher frequency motion may be unacceptable for some scientific instruments and require compensation. Hence, the bandwidth of inertial reference units may need to be enhanced if it is desired to control the high-frequency attitude jitter. In the case of line-of-sight type instruments, attitude jitter can be mitigated by incorporating a fast steering mirror into the system. To take full advantage of these devices, the spacecraft attitude needs to be measured at sufficiently high bandwidth, well beyond wheat is commonly provided by inertial reference units. Furthermore, due to cost and/or power considerations, it may be desirable to replace conventional gyros with accelerometers or quartz rate sensors, and star trackers with GPS receivers configured to measure attitude. This paper explores various ways to obtain higher bandwidth attitude measurements for the purpose of jitter control, and provides a practical solution.
