STELLAR SENSOR FOR SPACECRAFT UNDER MODE OF TWIST Russian patent published in 1995 - IPC

FIELD: navigation of spacecraft. SUBSTANCE: known sensor having optical system 1, slot diaphragm 2 and photodetector 3 made fast to spacecraft is supplemented with second pair of V-shaped slots. Two central slots of diaphragm are arranged equidistantly from optical axis and are oriented along axis of twist and two others are parallel and are placed at distance equal to half-distance between first two slots. Electrical part of circuit is inserted with two flip-flops 8,17, two counters 12,20, pulse generator 11, two storages 13, 21, two logic NOT gates 9,18, differentiation unit 14, limiter 15 and inverter 16. EFFECT: increased accuracy of determination of coordinates of stars and enlarged number of measured parameters. 3 cl, 4 dwg