Ultraprecision Pointing Accuracy for SmallSat/CubeSat Attitude Control Systems

The Phase I program concluded with the successful demonstration of a piezo enhanced pointing system targeted to the CubeSat class of satellites. The Phase I program results also surpassed the Phase I goals allowing the proposed Phase II program to further push the capabilities and design of the approach. The main objective of the Phase II program is to further quantify the performance of the Attitude Control Piezo Adaptor (ACPA) and to expand it beyond the single axis Phase I testbed into a fully characterized three-axes prototype. In addition, the Phase I analytical models will be enhanced into the three-axes system and utilized in the modeling, design, and testing of the control algorithms. QorTek plans to team with Boeing Huntington Beach to fully test and quantify the performance of the three axis prototype.