Quotables
"To place a man in a multi-stage rocket and project him into the controlling gravitational field of the moon where the passengers can make scientific observations, perhaps land alive, and then return to earth--all that constitutes a wild dream worthy of Jules Verne. I am bold enough to say that such a man-made voyage will never occur regardless of all future advances."
Lee deForest, American radio pioneer ; 1957
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 5042752 | Apparatus for controlling the attitude of and stabilizing an elastic body A device is disclosed for regulating a set value and/or for stabilizing elastic objects subject to spin and free to move around their axis of rotation, in particular aircraft and spacecraft. For that purpose, the regulating signals required to regulate th... | 08/27/1991 |
| 5025381 | Attitude control compensator for flexible spacecraft An attitude control loop for a spacecraft uses a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller for control about an axis. The spacecraft body has at least a primary mechanical resonance. The attitude sensors are collocated, or both on the rigid portio... | 06/18/1991 |
| 5020745 | Reaction wheel fricton compensation using dither A reaction-wheel stabilized spacecraft reduces attitude errors at wheel reversals by application of a dither component to the wheel torque command signal.... | 06/04/1991 |
| 4954833 | Method for determining astronomic azimuth An improved method for fixing position of a land-based target site with respect to a reference site in the natural coordinate frame comprising the steps of determining geodetic azimuth between the target site and the reference target using Global Position... | 09/04/1990 |
| 4931942 | Transition control system for spacecraft attitude control A method for controlling transition from thruster control to momentum wheel control to minimize nutation angle and transition time in a three-axis stabilized spacecraft employing an internal body fixed-momentum wheel as an attitude stabilizer. The method ... | 06/05/1990 |
| 4916622 | Attitude control system An attitude control system using magnetic torquing is enhanced using a momentum wheel which is pivoted if the sensed error signal about the roll axis exceeds a given threshold. The momentum wheel is pivoted under control of a stepping motor through a firs... | 04/10/1990 |
| 4912475 | Techniques for determining orbital data Techniques are disclosed for determining orbital data of space borne vehicles including earth satellites such as those of the NAVSTAR Global Positioning System. Each of a set of such satellites transmits signals which include carrier waves which may be su... | 03/27/1990 |
| 4883244 | Satellite attitude determination and control system with agile beam sensing Agile (electronically steerable) beam sensing with associated on-board processing, previously used exclusively for positioning of antennas for beam formation and tracking in communications systems, is now also used for satellite active attitude determinat... | 11/28/1989 |
| 4848706 | Spacecraft attitude control using coupled thrusters An attitude control system for a three-axis controlled spacecraft (1) in which the location of thrusters causes significant cross-coupling torques. A thruster command conditioning electronics module (TCCEM) (3) is positioned between the conventional roll,... | 07/18/1989 |
| 4837699 | Method for controlling the spin axis attitude of a spinning spacecraft A system located on board a geosynchronous satellite for detecting spin axis precession and developing thruster control signals for restoring the spin axis to the desired attitude. Fuel economy is enhanced by performing the major attitude correction at a ... | 06/06/1989 |
| 4827421 | Telecommunications satellite system on quasi-stationary orbits In a telecommunications satellite system operating with quasi-stationary orbits and comprising a plurality of earth satellites having elliptical orbits appearing at nearly the same location in space in cyclical succession and relieving one another in radi... | 05/02/1989 |
| 4827422 | Fan scan horizon sensor for a spin stabilized satellite Three axis attitude information is provided by a horizon sensor for a spin stabilized satellite having an optical system on the spinning member viewing normal to the spin axis with a linear array of detectors in its focal plane which scans a zone around t... | 05/02/1989 |
| 4817001 | Method of correcting navigation system errors caused by drift In a two way ranging system of the type employing pseudonoise spread spectrum codes there is provided a method for correcting the navigational system of one of two moving stations in space to compensate for relative drift. The point positions of the two s... | 03/28/1989 |
| 4791573 | State-deviation-estimation circuit employing a phase-locked-loop phase reference A system (34) for determining deviations in the state of motion of a projectile (10) from its intended state includes a comparison module (38) that receives the outputs S of a sensor array (36). The comparison module (38) converts the sensor outputs to a ... | 12/13/1988 |
| 4757964 | Method for controlling the attitude of a spinning body in orbit A method for passively stabilizing the attitude of a spinning orbiting body subject to orbital precession to maintain the spin axis orientation of the body essentially fixed and stable relative to the orbital plane. The preferred embodiment comprises sele... | 07/19/1988 |
| 4758957 | Spacecraft stabilization system and method A method and system is described for simultaneously precessing and nutation damping a spinning spacecraft that includes a computer, thrusters for precession and nutation damping and gyros aligned with or parallel to each of three orthogonal axes with the ... | 07/19/1988 |
| 4752884 | Precision platform pointing controller for a dual-spin spacecraft A pointing apparatus for a dual-spin spacecraft utilizing a first sensor for sensing the time of arrival of an inertial attitude reference as the spinning portion of the spacecraft rotates, and a second sensor for sensing the time of arrival of an index r... | 06/21/1988 |
| 4658361 | Method and apparatus for determining satellite attitude by using star sensor An apparatus for determining attitude of a satellite by using a star sensor includes a ground terminal equipped with a data processing unit and star catalogue, a star sensor, an estimating the unit for estimating attitude of the satellite and a decision u... | 04/14/1987 |
| 4521855 | Electronic on-orbit roll/yaw satellite control Disclosed is a method and apparatus estimating yaw error and roll and yaw disturbance torques from measured roll error and yaw momentum on a continuous on-orbit basis in an orbiting satellite. The information thus obtained can be used to continuously corr... | 06/04/1985 |
| 4504912 | Satellites and roll/yaw controls therefor In the disclosed satellite and arrangement therefor, roll or yaw of a satite with pitch momentum bias and travelling on a substantially polar orbit with the aid of a coil interacting with the earth's magnetic surface includes a timing arrangement for div... | 03/12/1985 |
| 4494211 | Balanced system for ranging and synchronization between satellite pairs A balanced ranging and synchronization (R&S) system for a master(M)-slave satellite pair including a clock, a transmitter, a receiver, a time difference measuring device and a calculating device on both M and S. Each satellite transmits timing signals sy... | 01/15/1985 |
| 4383661 | Flight control system for a remote-controlled missile A ground station forming part of a system for controlling the flight of a missile comprises two cascaded computers, the first of these computers generating guidance instructions on the basis of initially available data while the second computer converts t... | 05/17/1983 |
| 4370716 | Active nutation control system for space vehicle An active nutation control system for a space vehicle spinning about a geometric axis has thrusters for creating an external torque about an axis transverse to the first. The amplitude of the nutation and its phase in relation with the spinning movement a... | 01/25/1983 |
| 4325124 | System for controlling the direction of the momentum vector of a geosynchronous satellite A system for compensating the disturbance torques applied to a satellite, which eliminates the requirement for a thruster control loop. The disturbance torque itself is used as the compensating torque in order to super-impose to the incidental misalignmen... | 04/13/1982 |
| 4320287 | Target vehicle tracking apparatus Vehicle tracking and position predicting apparatus includes an improved Kalman velocity filter feedback loop having a forward gain matrix for loop coordinate error factors and those of their derivatives; and position predicting computing apparatus in the ... | 03/16/1982 |
| 4310884 | Microcomputer-controlled portable satellite signal simulator for exploration systems, and method of use In accordance with the invention, satellite navigation, receiver system of an exploration system for exploring for hydrocarbons in earth formations can be tested for fieldworthiness using a portable microcomputer-controlled satellite navigation simulator.... | 01/12/1982 |
| 4114841 | Magnetic torquing system for changing the spin rate of an orbiting satellite The angular momentum of a tumbling orbiting satellite is changed to reduce the spinning of the spacecraft such that the spacecraft can operate in an essentially stabilized condition. The change in spin rate is accomplished by the development of a magnetic... | 09/19/1978 |
| 4108400 | Dual mode guidance system A dual mode missile guidance system employing a passive anti-radiation ser for midcourse guidance and an alternate sensor for terminal guidance. A broadband, body mounted conformal antenna comprises the midcourse sensor, and the alternate sensor is mount... | 08/22/1978 |
| 4102521 | System for signal coding 1. In a system for the coding of guidance signals which are produced at a control center and after their coding transmitted to a body to be guided, a control center consisting of a command generator for producing the guidance signals, a coding unit for co... | 07/25/1978 |
| 4044237 | Missile maneuver concept A lifting body missile is controlled by pitch and roll commands wherein the aw autopilot is caused to change in accordance with the roll and estimated angle of attack input information. A command logic is provided to determine the polarity of the command s... | 08/23/1977 |
| 3944172 | Attitude control for space vehicle Method of providing position, e.g. attitude control for space vehicles having control thrusters producing thrust for imparting momentum upon the vehicle, further having a control apparatus for the thrusters causing them to produce thrust bursts or pulses ... | 03/16/1976 |
