Differential optical shadow sensor for drag-free satellites
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- The basic idea of a drag-free satellite is to shield a free floating test mass inside a satellite from all forces other than gravity. This puts the test mass into a geodesic orbit. A control system ensures that the satellite closely follows the test mass, thus putting the entire satellite into a geodesic orbit Drag-free satellites have a long history since the first such satellite was launched in 1972. The mission scenarios in which drag-free satellites have been used range from navigation to geodesy to fundamental physics. There are plans for future missions using drag-free technology, mainly for geodesy and fundamental physics applications. This led to the development of a new gravitational reference sensor at Stanford, the Modular Gravitational Reference Sensor (MGRS). One of the building blocks of the MGRS is the Differential Optical Shadow Sensor (DOSS), a sensor to precisely measure the displacement of the free floating test mass inside the satellite. This thesis describes the experimental design and results of the DOSS in its current form as a laboratory experiment that meets and exceeds the requirements for the MGRS mission. The Differential Optical Shadow Sensor has a sensitivity of better than 1 nm/rtHz above 1 Hz and 10 nm/rtHz above 100 mHz. The sensor enables a drag-free satellite mission on a small satellite (100 kg class) with a state of the art drag-free performance of 1e-12 m/s^2/rtHz. Previous design iterations of the DOSS, mainly designed for the CubeSat Standard, are listed in the appendix.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2016 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Zoellner, Andreas Markus |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Mechanical Engineering. |
| Primary advisor | DeBra, D. B. (Daniel B.) |
| Primary advisor | Kenny, Thomas William |
| Thesis advisor | DeBra, D. B. (Daniel B.) |
| Thesis advisor | Kenny, Thomas William |
| Thesis advisor | Lipa, John A |
| Advisor | Lipa, John A |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Andreas Zoellner. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Mechanical Engineering. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2016. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2016 by Andreas Markus Zoellner
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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