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Description of Thesis Topic 

The NPSAT1 spacecraft is a three-axis stabilized spacecraft using only magnetic torquers for actuators and a magnetometer as a sensor input. On-board processing will determine the local magnetic field vector using a GPS receiver and an on-board orbit propagator. The NPSAT1 Matlab® Simulink® ACS model is running on a spherical air bearing as part of functional validation testing.

A small momentum/reaction wheel was added as ‘insurance’ to the baseline configuration. The flight momentum wheel provides angular momentum capacity of 0.05 to 0.18 Nms with torque capacity of 30 mN-m. The scope of this thesis would be to implement a test program where the operational characteristics of the flight momentum wheel can be duplicated on the air bearing platform. This could be done using a step motor and controller operated by the on-board computer through the Matlab/Simulink interface.

Proposed Outline

• NPSAT1 Introduction
• ACS Design Description
• Test Setup
• Modifications for Momentum Wheel
• Tests Performed and Results
• Conclusions & Recommendations
• Appendix of Test Results and Test Data

Suggested References

• NPSAT1 Magnetic Attitude Control System Algorithm Verification, Validation, and Air-Bearing Tests, Eric W. Herbert, MSEE Thesis, NPS, Sept. 2004.
• NPSAT1 Attitude Control Subsystem Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulation, Alexander Schmidt, NPS Report, NPS-SP-03-002, May 2003.
• Memoranda following NPSAT1 PDR
• Matlab® Simulink® manuals / NPSAT1 models