AAS 95-301

A Preliminary Study of Satellite Attitude Determination For Future Landsat Spacecraft

P. Fell, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren, VA

Abstract

The ability to estimate precise attitude for LANDSAT will be a determining factor for exploiting single-pass stereo imagery for mapping without the need for large area photogrammetric triangulation. As a first step in understanding what accuracy might be achievable, a preliminary, one-dimensional spacecraft attitude study was performed. Measurement types considered were stellar sensor, rate gyro, GPS dual-antenna phase measurements and image mensuration. Using these data types and their statistical properties, covariance matrices were developed consistent with a image acquisition scenario. It was evident that high precision attitude will depend critically on the accuracy of stellar sensors. Augmentation with GPS may prove useful if certain technical goals can be achieved.