TPF-I SWG Report - Exoplanet Exploration Program - NASA

A PPENDIX C
2. Recall that the coefficients needed for estimator propagation are the outputs of the ADP algorithm. The
ADP takes the raw accelerometer measurements, corrects for accelerometer bias and the location of the
accelerometer (when not at the spacecraft CM, accelerometers also sense centripetal acceleration), and
rotates the acceleration into the inertial frame. The ADP serves two additional functions. First, when no
thrusters are firing, it estimates the accelerometer bias. Second, when the thrust levels are very low and
the accelerometer signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is poor, the ADP estimates the acceleration based on
thruster on-times.
Formation Guidance
For TPF-I there are three mission phases: formation acquisition, formation reconfiguration, and
observation. Formation acquisition, also known as formation initialization, is the process of obtaining
relative dynamic state information and establishing communication. It occurs after deployment or a fault
condition. Formation reconfiguration moves the formation from one configuration to a new configuration.
Reconfigurations occur after acquisition to move the formation to its initial science configuration, and after
a science observation to retarget. Finally, the observation phase consists of rotating the formation as a rigid
body and changing its baseline to synthesize a synthetic aperture. The observation phase is unique in that
spacecraft attitudes must be synchronized with relative positions for the interferometer to operate. In each
of these three phases, formation guidance must command the formation, that is, provide attitude and
relative translation paths for all the spacecraft.
There are three main constraints that the attitude and relative translation paths must satisfy: the collisionavoidance
constraint (CAC), the Sun-avoidance constraint (SAC), and the relative thermal constraint
(RTC). For the CAC, exclusion spheres are placed around each spacecraft, and relative translation paths
must not cause the spheres to intersect. The SAC protects the infrared optics. It requires the payload
“boresights” to remain within a cone about the anti-Sun line.
Additionally, recall that TPF-I is an infrared interferometer. The optics are cooled to 40 K. The hot side of
each spacecraft’s sunshield is approximately 300 K. If the hot side of one spacecraft’s sunshield were to
illuminate the cold optics of another it would heat the optics. Then the formation would have to sit idle
while the optics re-cooled. For each spacecraft, the RTC requires that relative position vector to the other
spacecraft remain approximately 85° or more away from the sunshield normal. The RTC is a time-varying
attitude constraint that depends on the relative positions of the formation.
Spacecraft (Attitude) Guidance
The attitude-guidance algorithms on each spacecraft are extensions of the attitude-guidance algorithm
designed for the Cassini mission. On each spacecraft a base frame is defined by aligning (1) a body-fixed
direction with an inertial direction, and (2) a second body fixed direction as much as possible with a second
inertial direction. Attitude turns are then commanded by specifying a new attitude relative to either the
current or base frame.
When a new attitude is commanded, the guidance first checks if the new attitude violates the SAC. If it
does, the command is rejected. If not, then an attitude path is first planned based on an Euler turn. If during
this turn the SAC is violated, then the turn is broken into three Euler turns that do not violate the SAC. This
algorithm does not address the RTC. However, the RTC is only active after the spacecraft are in science
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