Abstract
The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Fine Guidance System (FGS) was designed and demonstrated to provide a robust Coarse Track capability with a pointing accuracy of .02 arc second rms when tracking a Mv 14.5 star. Orbital data indicates that tracking performance varies from .02 to .065 arc second (Bely and Liu). Two HST hardware characteristics are identified as contributing to the higher than expected pointing errors. High jitter levels are induced by Solar Array Assembly mechanical shocks during and following day/night orbital transitions. Reduced signal to noise performance occurs in the Coarse Track control loop because of the spherically aberrated images from the telescope optics. A Computer simulation has been developed to investigate the operation of the Coarse Track mode performance and to determine if performance can be enhanced by modification of up-link control variables.
© 1991 Optical Society of America
PDF ArticleMore Like This
David J. Eaton, Richard Whittlesey, Bruce Allen, Roy Stoll, Linda Abramowicz-Reed, Robert Basedow, and Marcel Margulies
MF3 Space Optics for Astrophysics and Earth and Planetary Remote Sensing (SO) 1991
Linda Abramowicz-Reed, H. Louis Hallock, William H. Jefferys, and Gary L. Welter
MF2 Space Optics for Astrophysics and Earth and Planetary Remote Sensing (SO) 1991
C. Ftaclas, R. Basedow, A. Nonnenmacher, F. Weindling, D. Story, and E. Nelan
MA4 Space Optics for Astrophysics and Earth and Planetary Remote Sensing (SO) 1991