DEVICE FOR CONTROL OF THE ORIENTATION OF SPACECRAFTS AT APPROACH Russian patent published in 2018 - IPC B64G1/36 B64G1/64 

FIELD: optics; electronic equipment.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to optoelectron devices used in spacecraft motion control systems, mainly to the docking target of passive spacecraft. Target with a high absorption coefficient of its surface is located outside the port of docking. Axis OA of target (looking at us) is parallel to the axis OX of spacecraft. On basis (13) in the plane of the axes OB and OC, there are light sources (LS): disk LS (1), the first (2) and the second (5) linear LSs. Additional LSs: the first (3) and the second (4) are located at the center of LS (2), and the third (6) and the fourth (7) – at the center of LS (5). Lens hood (10) of LS (1) and the hole in inner ring (11) with an absorbent coating determine angular dimension (2α ≈ 3°) of emission cone of LS (1). LS (1) with a lens hood (10) serves to control the alignment of the axes of approaching spacecrafts. Outer ring (12) with a reflective coating serves to quickly locate LS (1). Photosensor (8) with control unit (9) of the LS allows to control the mutual orientation of the spacecrafts in a wide range of background illumination of the target. All LSs are equipped with shielding elements (15–17, 19–21), and linear LSs are also provided with lens hoods (14, 18).

EFFECT: technical result consists in increasing the ergonomic and functional characteristics of the device.

1 cl, 6 dwg