METHOD OF AUTONOMOUS ESTIMATION OF ORBIT CHANGES OF SIGHTED SPACECRAFT Russian patent published in 2017 - IPC G01C21/24 

FIELD: aviation.

SUBSTANCE: essence of the invention consists in autonomous determination, aboard a sighting spacecraft (SC) (Sc-1), of the changes in the orbit of a sighted SC (SC-2) on the basis of the autonomous generation of high-accuracy estimates of the parameters of the SC-2 orbit. These estimates are determined by solving a navigational problem according to the developed sighting method based on measurements of star coordinates and their stellar magnitudes in an optoelectron device (OED) placed in a cardan suspension and the sighting SC-2. The orientation of the "SC-1-SC-2" line of sight relative to the coordinate system, associated with the SC-1 body, is calculated as a result of measurements of the characteristics of stellar field observed in the OED rigidly fixed to the SC-1 body. The facts of changes in the orbit of SC-2 are established by analysing the sums of corrections to the orbit of SC-2 and the sums of the measurement discrepancies formed in the process of solving a navigational task by the tracking method. At the same time, it provides: autonomous high-accuracy estimation of the orbit of the observed SC, autonomous determination of the change in the orbit of the observed SC on the basis of passive measurements using only natural field radiation and excluding active measurements of range and radial velocity. Thus, the on-board control complex acquires a new function - tracking space objects of control and detecting the facts of changes in their orbits.

EFFECT: enhanced functional capacity.

2 dwg, 8 tbl