The Hemispherical Pointing Mechanism (HPM) was designed for wide angle, high accuracy pointing and tracking of medium to large spacecraft payloads. The concept employs two positioning axes arranged at an angle of 47.5 deg with respect to each other. A third axis is provided at the payload interface to allow an additional rotation of the payload. Identical drive units are used at all three axes, with almost identical frames between them. An on-board computer enables the HPM to perform in a variety of operation modes, including automatic tracking with or without the use of external sensors. An RF linkage model with rotary joints was built to demonstrate the feasibility of an RF option for the supply of antenna payloads. Other payload interface options can be incorporated as well. The mass limit of 12 kg can almost be met, but the mechanism is not strong enough to support larger payloads during launch without clamping.


    Access

    Access via TIB

    Check availability in my library


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Hemispherical Pointing Mechanism (HPM)


    Contributors:
    H. Heimel (author) / H. H. Schulz (author)

    Publication date :

    1984


    Size :

    189 pages


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English




    Hemispherical Pointing Mechanism

    K. Gallagher | NTIS | 1990


    Hemispherical resonator gyro for precision pointing applications

    Matthews, Anthony D. / Bauer, David A. | SPIE | 1995


    Hemispherical Resonator Gyro Noise Reduction for Precision Spacecraft Pointing

    Matthews, A. / Bauer, D. A. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1996


    Pointing mechanism

    KAWAMURA SHUNICHI | European Patent Office | 2022

    Free access

    POINTING MECHANISM

    KAWAMURA SHUNICHI | European Patent Office | 2021

    Free access