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...that Thomas Edison's patent application on his phonograph was approved by the Patent Office in just seven weeks? In contrast, it took Gordon Gould, the inventor of the laser, 30 years to obtain his patent -- finally awarded in 1988!
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8180505 | Spacecraft solar cell monitoring system An onboard solar cell array current and voltage characteristic determination method is preferably used on small spacecraft and determines the solar cell orientation relative to the sun by a comparison between prelaunch solar cell characteristics with on-orbit solar ... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8150567 | Device for control of relative position(s) by measurements of power, for a spacecraft of a group of spacecraft in formation A control device (D) for a spacecraft of a group of spacecraft intended to travel in a chosen formation comprises i) a set of at least three send/receive antennas (A1-A3) installed on at least three differently oriented faces of its spacecraft and adap... | 04/03/2012 |
| 8140198 | Slew guidance method for spacecraft A method is adapted for slewing a body from an initial state to merge with a desired state profile. In an embodiment, the method includes the steps of (a) obtaining data indicative of a time profile of desired future states for the body; (b) searching sequentially t... | 03/20/2012 |
| 8131409 | Gyroless transfer orbit sun acquisition using only wing current measurement feedback A system and method for gyroless transfer orbit sun acquisition using only wing current measurement feedback is disclosed. With this system and method, a spacecraft is able to maneuver itself to orient its solar panel to its maximum solar exposure spinning attitude.... | 03/06/2012 |
| 8090484 | Orientation control method and system for object in motion An object in motion has a force applied thereto at a point of application. By moving the point of application such that the distance between the object's center-of-mass and the point of application is changed, the object's orientation can be changed/adjusted. ... | 01/03/2012 |
| 8019494 | Propellant management system and method for multiple booster rockets Propellant management systems and methods are provided for controlling the delivery of liquid propellants in a space launch vehicle utilizing multiple rockets. The propellant management systems and methods may be configured to enable substantial simultaneous depleti... | 09/13/2011 |
| 8019493 | Spacecraft thruster torque feedforward calibration system A spacecraft includes a plurality of thrusters, a thruster firing logic, an actuator assembly, an attitude control system, and a torque calibration system. The plurality of thrusters is configured to apply torque to the spacecraft. The thruster firing logic is confi... | 09/13/2011 |
| 8014911 | Methods and systems for imposing a momentum boundary while reorienting an agile vehicle with control moment gyroscopes Methods and systems are provided for reorienting an agile vehicle, such as a satellite or spacecraft, using a control moment gyroscope (CMG) array. The CMG array comprises a plurality of CMGs onboard the agile vehicle. A method comprises obtaining an input torque co... | 09/06/2011 |
| 7991518 | System and method for controlling satellite based on integrated satellite operation data Provided is a satellite control system based on integrated satellite operation data and a method thereof. The satellite control system includes: a satellite operation data schema editing means for creating a document type definition file and defining a schema; a mis... | 08/02/2011 |
| 7974746 | Singularity escape and avoidance using a virtual array rotation Techniques for providing singularity escape and avoidance are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method for providing control moment gyroscope (CMG) attitude control singularity escape includes calculating a Jacobian A of a set of control equations, calculating a measu... | 07/05/2011 |
| 7957854 | Active vibration damping (AVD) system for precision pointing spacecraft An active vibration damping (AVD) control system for spacecraft provides a simple-to-implement and robust formulation that provides a novel damping control method for reducing spacecraft structural vibrations and improving antenna and instrument pointing. The AVD co... | 06/07/2011 |
| 7953523 | Active control of soft hybrid isolation systems Apparatus, Systems, and Methods are provided for controlling motion of a spacecraft. One apparatus includes a non-contacting actuator and a passive mechanical system coupled in parallel with one another. A system includes a payload, a bus, and a hybrid actuator incl... | 05/31/2011 |
| 7917256 | Active vibration damping (AVD) system for precision pointing spacecraft An active vibration damping (AVD) control system for spacecraft provides a simple-to-implement and robust formulation that provides a novel damping control method for reducing spacecraft structural vibrations and improving antenna and instrument pointing. The AVD co... | 03/29/2011 |
| 7904214 | Singularity escape and avoidance using a virtual array rotation Techniques for providing singularity escape and avoidance are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method for providing control moment gyroscope (CMG) attitude control singularity escape includes calculating a Jacobian A of a set of control equations, calculating a measu... | 03/08/2011 |
| 7877173 | Method and apparatus for determining a satellite attitude using crosslink reference signals A method and apparatus for determining the attitude of a satellite using crosslink information is disclosed. The method and apparatus integrates data from the crosslinks with data available from other sources including, for example, star sensors, inertial sensors, a... | 01/25/2011 |
| 7860617 | Geosynchronous spacecraft autonomous navigation A spacecraft system is provided, including a measurement device configured to measure information associated with position of a spacecraft, a filter configured to process the measured information and to provide estimated pre-maneuver information associated with posi... | 12/28/2010 |
| 7835828 | Method for computer-assisted determination of an optimum-fuel control of nozzles Method for the computer-assisted determination of an optimum-fuel control of nozzles according to a control instruction b=Ax. A defined matrix transformation of starting constraints for the mass flow of the nozzles and of the minimization criterion thereby takes pla... | 11/16/2010 |
| 7831341 | Navigation system and method using modulated celestial radiation sources A system and method for navigation utilizes sources of modulated celestial radiation. A spacecraft, satellite, or other vehicle (12) includes one or more modulated radiation sensors (22a-22x) for detecting a modulated signal (14... | 11/09/2010 |
| 7805226 | Hierarchical strategy for singularity avoidance in arrays of control moment gyroscopes A control system for adjusting the attitude of a spacecraft comprises a set of control moment gyroscopes (CMGs) configured to allow null space maneuvering. The control system further comprises a momentum actuator control processor coupled to the set of CMGs and conf... | 09/28/2010 |
| 7787998 | Method and device for assisting the lateral control of an aircraft running on a runway A method and device for assisting the lateral control of an aircraft running on a runway employ a detector for measuring a lateral deviation of the aircraft relative to a lateral alignment beam transmitted by a radio transmitter installed on the ground, the lateral ... | 08/31/2010 |
| 7747361 | Method of injecting plurality of spacecraft into different orbits individually In a method for injecting a plurality of spacecraft into different circum-earth or interplanetary orbits individually in a single launch, a plurality of spacecraft coupled to an assist module are injected into an interplanetary orbit having a periodicity synchronous... | 06/29/2010 |
| 7693619 | Method and system for controlling sets of collinear control moment gyroscopes with offset determination without attitude trajectory of spacecraft A control system of a spacecraft for controlling two or more sets of collinear control moment gyroscopes (CMGs) comprises an attitude control system. The attitude control system is configured to receive a command to adjust an orientation of the spacecraft, determine... | 04/06/2010 |
| 7676305 | Method and apparatus for assigning weighting coefficients for performing attitude calculations with a star sensor Methods and apparatus for assigning weighting coefficients to measurements of a succession of stars acquired by a star sensor connected to a client device in order to determine a spatial orientation, characterized in that higher or lower preference is given to refre... | 03/09/2010 |
| 7668629 | Ultra-tightly coupled global navigation satellite system space borne receiver system A GNSS ultra-tight coupling (UTC) receiver architecture applicable to space borne orbit platforms is described. A receiver in accordance with this architecture retains the rotational motion sensors typically found in an inertial measurement unit (IMU) of a conventio... | 02/23/2010 |
| 7664578 | Optimizing initial inclinations and RAANs of a satellite constellation A method for minimizing the amount of propellant required to be carried onboard the satellites of an Earth orbiting satellite constellation to maintain the minimum angle of elevation between a selected geographical area of the Earth and at least one satellite of the... | 02/16/2010 |
| 7627404 | Singularity escape and avoidance using a virtual array rotation Techniques for providing singularity escape and avoidance are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method for providing control moment gyroscope (CMG) attitude control singularity escape includes calculating a Jacobian A of a set of control equations, calculating a measu... | 12/01/2009 |
| 7599768 | Method for computer-assisted determination of an optimum-fuel control of nozzles Method for the computer-assisted determination of an optimum-fuel control of nozzles according to a control instruction b=Ax. A defined matrix transformation of starting constraints for the mass flow of the nozzles and of the minimization criterion thereby takes pla... | 10/06/2009 |
| 7593794 | Optical stabilization system A method and apparatus are described for controlling the attitude of a vehicle in a space having at least two opposed viewable regions, each region being viewed by a respective first sensor for sensing a first frequency band of electromagnetic radiation and a respec... | 09/22/2009 |
| 7580778 | Methods and systems for controlling multi-body vehicles with fuel slosh Methods and systems for controlling multi-body vehicles with fuel slosh are provided. In a method for stabilizing a vehicle with fuel slosh, a controller for a multi-body assembly is formed by selecting vehicle configuration and velocity as states of a rigid body. E... | 08/25/2009 |
| 7561947 | Dynamic CMG array and method Methods and apparatus are provided for reorienting control moment gyros (CMGs) to compensate for CMG failure or change in spacecraft (S/C) mass properties or mission. An improved CMG comprises a drive means for rotating the CMG around an axis not parallel to the CMG... | 07/14/2009 |
| 7558654 | Apparatus and method for providing flight operations integrated planning and analysis tools An apparatus and method provide flight operations integrated planning and analysis tools (FOIPAT) to perform integrated planning and analysis tasks for autonomous (unmanned) systems operations. The FOIPAT may be used for space launch and satellite early orbit analys... | 07/07/2009 |
| 7542829 | Low earth orbit satellite command planning device and method, and low earth orbit satellite control system including the same Disclosed is a command planning apparatus of a low-earth orbit satellite, and a low-earth orbit satellite control system including the same. The present invention automates the process of executing the command plan for converting the satellite task schedule planned ... | 06/02/2009 |
| 7487016 | Method for compensating star motion induced error in a stellar inertial attitude determination system A method for controlling an actuator of a vehicle comprises providing a dynamic condition sensor generating a vehicle movement signal and a position sensor for generating a reported position. A processor is coupled to the inertial sensor and the position sensor and ... | 02/03/2009 |
| 7477966 | Propellant management system and method for multiple booster rockets Propellant management systems and methods are provided for controlling the delivery of liquid propellants in a space launch vehicle utilizing multiple rockets. The propellant management systems and methods may be configured to enable substantial simultaneous depleti... | 01/13/2009 |
| 7454272 | Geostationary stationkeeping method According to one embodiment of the invention, a stationkeeping method for a geostationary satellite includes determining a gravitational force of the sun on the satellite at a beginning of a stationkeeping operation and a gravitational force of the moon on the satel... | 11/18/2008 |
| 7451022 | Calibration of ship attitude reference A ship includes a star tracker mounted on a platform stabilized in ENU by the inertial navigation system (INS). The line-of-sight (LOS) of the star tracker is directed toward two separated stars, and the LOS difference angles are noted. The angles are processed to g... | 11/11/2008 |
| 7437224 | Target acquisition control for spacecraft gimballed payload A method and apparatus for controlling a gimbaled platform (108). The method comprises the steps of computing an acquisition phase gimbal angle rate command ωcmd—Acq (530) from a measured LOS angle error... | 10/14/2008 |
| 7437222 | Gimbal disturbance calibration and compenstion Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to precision control system for spacecraft gimbaled payloads. Embodiments of the invention provide an innovative technique of calibrating gimbals disturbances to directly canceling gimbal control disturbances... | 10/14/2008 |
| 7428405 | Automatic operation system and method for automating satellite control operation and satellite ground control system using the same Provided are an automatic operation system for automating satellite control operation, a method thereof, and an automatic satellite ground control system using the same. The object of the present research is to provide an automatic operation system that can reduce o... | 09/23/2008 |
| 7421319 | Systems and methods for preflight planning and inflight execution using portable electronic data storage and display devices This invention provide systems and methods for cockpit flight crew preflight planning and subsequent, systematic recall and execution of procedures, ground/inflight navigation, and communications using portable electronic data storage and display devices. A capabili... | 09/02/2008 |
