Attitude Determination and Control System
ADCS (engl. A ttitude D etermination and C ontrol S ystem ) or AOCS (engl. A ttitude and O rbit C ontrol S ystem ) is in the space technology a common name for the position - and orbit control system of a spacecraft (engl. Spacecraft ) or . satellite .
Such a system typically consists of sensors , the position control computer and actuators . With the AOCS, a GPS receiver or on-board navigation system is usually added, which also enables the orbit position to be determined.
Position control strategies
A distinction is made between the active ADCS / AOCS systems:
- engl. momentum-bias systems
- Spin stabilized systems
- Twist-stabilized systems
- engl. non-momentum-bias systems
- 3-axis stabilized systems.
Sensors
Position control sensors are used to determine the orientation of the spacecraft in space.
- Absolute sensors
- Star sensor
- Sun sensor
- Earth sensor
- Magnetic field sensor ( magnetometer )
- Inertial sensors
Actuators
Position control actuators are used to change the orientation of the spacecraft in space.
- Control nozzles
- Reaction wheels (at least three; more than three, if used redundantly)
- Twist wheel (always only one; at most two, if used redundantly; unlike the other actuators, it is not used for active change , but for passive maintenance of the alignment in space)
-
Solenoids
- Air coils (coils with a hollow inner cross-section)
- Magnetorquer / Torqrods (reels with iron core )