The APL MAGSAT attitude transfer system concept

This document describes the conceptual design and analysis for an Attitude Transfer System (ATS) to perform continuous measurement of the three-axis attitude of a vector magnetometer experiment, relative to a pair of star sensors fastened to a satellite body. The magnetometer is suspended at the end of a 20-ft boom extending from the body of MAGSAT (a survey satellite for measurement of the earth's magnetic field). A common optical bench serves as the mounting reference for both the ATS and the star sensors. The directional accuracy of the vector magnetometer experiment is required to be 20 arc seconds in all three axes. An error allocation analysis has determined that the ATS must provide an accuracy of 7 arc seconds per axis to meet the overall system requirements.