{"id":243,"date":"2021-07-25T17:43:27","date_gmt":"2021-07-25T15:43:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dc8pat.de\/?p=243"},"modified":"2026-10-29T10:35:05","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T09:35:05","slug":"precursor-attitude-concept","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nolle.engineering\/en\/2021\/07\/25\/precursor-attitude-concept\/","title":{"rendered":"PRECURSOR Attitude Concept"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The PRECURSOR satellite is scheduled to be launched into a sun synchronous orbit with an 10:30 right ascending node.  The attitude profile needs to fulfil these high level requirements:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Point solar generator toward sun when outside eclipse. Also minimize angle between downlink antenna and nadir<\/li><li>During eclipse point antenna toward nadir for best communication and point thrust vector along orbit velocity<\/li><li>When in line of sight, point antenna directly to base ground station<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-style-rounded\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"839\" height=\"583\" src=\"https:\/\/nolle.engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/image.png\" alt=\"PRECURSOR attitude mode transition diagram: sun pointing, earth pointing and contact modes\" class=\"wp-image-10250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nolle.engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/image.png 839w, https:\/\/nolle.engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/image-700x486.png 700w, https:\/\/nolle.engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/image-300x208.png 300w, https:\/\/nolle.engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/image-768x534.png 768w, https:\/\/nolle.engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/image-16x12.png 16w, https:\/\/nolle.engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/image-432x300.png 432w, https:\/\/nolle.engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/image-400x278.png 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 839px) 100vw, 839px\" \/><figcaption>Attitude Mode Transitions<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This concept has been simulated with GMAT. A short visualization demonstrates the concept and shows the attitude transitions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"PRECURSOR Attitude Concept, RAAN 10:30\" width=\"1000\" height=\"563\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lG72ad2bzos?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For comparison 2 more orbits are simulated. First a 06:00 orbit where the orbital plane is roughly perpendicular to the sun direction which means the satellite is always illuminated. This would be the ideal orbit where the battery can always be charged and the antenna can always pointed directly to Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"PRECURSOR Attitude Concept, RAAN 06:00\" width=\"1000\" height=\"563\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Ir_xw9-Iv8M?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Third 3rd simulation shows a 12:00 orbit. This is the other extreme where the sun is parallel to the orbital plane. This causes the longest eclipse period and also results in an aggressive yaw flip when the sun passes overhead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"PRECURSOR Attitude Concept, RAAN 12:00\" width=\"1000\" height=\"563\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FISi5QCSL8I?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The PRECURSOR satellite is scheduled to be launched into a sun synchronous orbit with an 10:30 right ascending node. The attitude profile needs to fulfil these high level requirements: Point solar generator toward sun when outside eclipse. Also minimize angle between downlink antenna and nadir During eclipse point antenna toward nadir for best communication and&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nolle.engineering\/en\/2021\/07\/25\/precursor-attitude-concept\/\">Read More<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":5213,"featured_media":10250,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[139],"class_list":["post-243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-satellite-engineering","fallback-thumbnail"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>PRECURSOR Satellite Attitude Concept in GMAT - nolle.engineering<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"PRECURSOR satellite attitude concept for a 10:30 sun-synchronous orbit: sun, nadir and ground-station pointing modes, simulated in GMAT.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nolle.engineering\/en\/2021\/07\/25\/precursor-attitude-concept\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"PRECURSOR Satellite Attitude Concept in GMAT - 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