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J.W. Kruk (JHU), B.F. Class (OSC), T.B. Ake (JHU/CSC), H.L. Fisher, W.P. Blair, H.W. Moos (JHU), FUSE Operations Team
The Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) satellite provides inertial pointing with sub-arcsecond accuracy and stability. Attitude determination is performed using a combination of rate-sensing ring-laser gyros, three-axis magnetometers (TAMs), and a fine error sensor (FES); a coarse sun sensor is also used, primarily for safe modes. The FES is part of the FUSE telescope, and provides high-precision attitude data when the line of sight is not occulted by the Earth. There are two redundant three-axis gyro packages on FUSE. One gyro has already failed, and four of the remaining five units have shown signs of premature aging. Because additional gyro failures seem likely, the FUSE project is developing new flight software that will perform adequate attitude determination without gyros. These changes affect the FES controller, the Instrument Data System, the spacecraft Attitude Control System software, and the mission planning guide star system. We will describe the new system design, the new observing scenarios, and the expected pointing performance and impacts on observing efficiency.
This work is supported by NASA Contract NAS5-32985 to the Johns Hopkins University.
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The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: kruk@pha.jhu.edu
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 34
© 2002. The American Astronomical Soceity.