Attitude parameters determination of the passive nanosatellite REFLECTOR using laser tracking control measurements

The method of attitude parameters determination of the passive gravity-gradient stabilized nanosatellite REFLECTOR is proposed. The attitude control system consists of specially chosen loads, boom and a set of hysteresis rods fabricated from the soft magnetic material. As a given initial information the distances between a laser locator and satellite-based retroreflectors obtained at the laser tracking control sessions are used. The measurements are preprocessed and reduced to the target plane. Certain parameters of the satellite angular motion are determined during the transient motion using both the Kalman filtering and original method based on the processing of harmonics of the varying distances. Results of measurement processing are compared with simulation ones.