On the satellite attitude determination using simple environmental models and sensor data

Attitude determination represents a fundamental task for most of the spacecrafts. It relies on three basic aspects: 1) sensors selection, 2) relevant environmental conditions estimation, and 3) algorithms that relate the sensor measurements to the expected conditions in the reference frame. Each one has its own impact on the accuracy that the system can achieve. Besides, two factors stand out above the others in terms of accuracy: 1) sensor quality (calibration, range, etc), and 2) precision of the environmental models. The computation of the satellite attitude needs at least two independent measurements (magnetometers, solar sensors...), whit their corresponding simulated measurements in the reference frame. Nevertheless, the number of measurements can be reduced to one if the satellite attitude is constrained. This paper describes a procedure to calculate satellites’ attitude and the main environmental models used (Earth magnetic model, Sun position model, Albedo model), including orbit propagation. This methodology can be extended to measure the performance of a sensor if the satellite attitude can be derived from other measurements and satellite constrains. The methodology is checked with data from the UPMSat-2 mission (launched in September 2020 within the VEGA VV16 mission). This is a 50-kg satellite designed and developed at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM).