Satellite Control Laboratory

The Satellite Laboratory at the Department of Control Engineering of Aalborg University (SatLab) is a dynamic motion facility designed for analysis and test of micro spacecraft. A unique feature of the laboratory is that it provides a completely gravity-free environment. A test spacecraft is suspended on an air bearing, and rotates freely in 3 degrees of freedom. In order to avoid any influence of the gravitational force the centre of mass of the satellite is placed in the geometric centre of the air bearing by an automatic balancing system. The test spacecraft is equipped with a three-axis magnetometer, three piezoelectric gyros, and four reaction wheels in a tetrahedron configuration. The operation of the spacecraft is fully autonomous. The data flow between the transducers and the onboard computer placed physically outside the satellite is provided by a radio link. The purpose of the laboratory is to conduct dynamic tests of the control and attitude determination algorithms during nominal operation and in abnormal conditions. Further it is intended to use SatLab for validation of various algorithms for fault detection, accommodation and supervisory control. Different mission objectives can be implemented in the laboratory, e.g. three-axis attitude control, slew manoeuvres, spins stabilization using magnetic actuation and/or reaction wheels. The spacecraft attitude can be determined applying magnetometer measurements.