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SPACE TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT
Innovative engineering concepts and technologies are being
created within the College of Engineering at Texas A&M
University - one of the largest engineering schools in the
country. The research conducted by principal investigators
can be significantly accelerated towards a product by using a
professional staff of engineers to design, fabricate and test
prototypes and engineering models. The Spacecraft Technology
Center has the expertise and facilities to advance technologies
from concept feasibility to flight demonstration in the space
environment. A few examples of the technologies being
developed at the STC are:
Attitude sensors
We work with nationally recognized faculty experts
from the Department of Aerospace Engineering to develop
innovative star trackers for NASA, the U.S. Department
of Defense and commercial applications. One example is a
dual field-of-view star tracker that can produce five µrad
attitude knowledge at 10 Hz with onboard self-calibration.
The patented dual field-of-view system allows high accuracy
in all three axes from a single sensor. The flight unit
includes high reliability components for a 7- to-10-year
life in geosynchronous orbit. We are also pursuing additional
sensor development for low-cost attitude estimation.
Relative navigation sensors
As another example, we are developing sensors that enable
autonomous rendezvous and docking of spacecraft. Our structured light
navigation sensor -- VisNav -- can produce a 6-degree-of-freedom
navigation solution to a cooperative target at an update rate of
100 Hz, accurate to within 1 cm. The VisNav sensor can also be applied
to the more demanding application of autonomous aerial
refueling of unmanned aircraft. A program to tailor the technology
for this application is underway with industry sponsorship.
Space camera systems
We are currently working with researchers from Florida Atlantic
University to develop a high-resolution camera system for
operation on the International Space Station (ISS). The QuadHD
camera head has four times the resolution of HDTV and will allow
astronauts to store up to 30 minutes of exceptionally high quality imagery in
digital formats. The Space Digital Cinema camera system will also
be able to download standard HDTV content to Earth.
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