Reaction Sphere Spin Axis Measurement with Photoelectric Sensors

Reaction sphere is a new type of actuators for satellite attitude control. Due to its 3D rotation motion, measuring the spin axis of the rotor is of great significance for its closed-loop control. This paper proposes a spin axis measurement method of a reaction sphere based on photoelectric sensors, which obtains the characteristics of non-contact and highly real-time. A sensor placement strategy and a rotor painting strategy are proposed. The analytical model and the optimization methods are developed to calculating the vector of the spin axis. Calculation of the 6 examples verifies the feasibility of the proposed method.