I seem to recall our ballistic missile submarines are using atomic gyros.
Feared that.. 'MTBF' KIlls. But how else to do the physics? if there's no mass-in-motion :-/
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Re: Feared that..
I seem to recall our ballistic missile submarines are using atomic gyros. |
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Thanks! ... I n t e r e s t i n g . . . PIco-gyros!
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Likely solid state accelerometers
I don't know what shape those were in when Hubble was in the design stage. Some of earlier reference to their application in missiles dates to the early '80's but that may have been too late/too classified* for use on the Hubble. Recall the NSA (NRO ?) had a couple of spare Hubble performance class never used spy sats hiding in the basement. It would surprise me one bit that sharing of guidance tech with mostly-civilians was off the table too. |
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DIY guide
https://asd.gsfc.nasa.gov/archive/hubble/a_pdf/news/SM2-MediaGuide.pdf I forgot the guidance cameras. The gyros keep Hubble on-track during slewing and while not observing. During observations, the telescope is kept on target by two guidance cameras. Those lock on to a star in the general direction of the main tube and direct the telescope's motion controls to keep the star centered in the field of view. |
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Ah.. thanks, clear. (Why didn't I think of that? ..must be low in DaVinci genes).
Still: those little Maksutov-Cassegrain spotter cameras, looking a far---distance: One Pixel precision in thoso tiny hunks of quartz?? (Think the exponential-cost for "Ten-Nines purity" (in chemical reagents /or Anywhere ya nees a 17-place log-table). |