U. S. Air Force Phillips Laboratory Autonomous Space Navigation Experiment

Jack Anthony, William O. Glascoe III

Abstract:	The Air Force Phillips Laboratory’s Technology for Autonomous Operational Survivability (TAOS) space experiment is scheduled for launch on an Air Force Space Test Program Space Test Experiment Platform (STEP) spacecraft in early 1993. The mission will test and evaluate two navigation systems that support autonomous satellite navigation. They are the Microcosm Autonomous Navigation System (MANS) and the Rockwell Autonetics Six-Channel Global Positioning System (GPS) Receiver. MANS is a true autonomous system that uses horizon scanners, modified for Sun and Moon detection, as primary measurement devices to determine position, velocity, and attitude and estimate position and velocity using a Kalman filter. MANS supplemental sensors include GPS and an inertial measurement unit (IMU). The Rockwell miniature GPS receiver is a semi-autonomous system which accesses the GPS network to determine spacecraft position, velocity, and time. Position and velocity reference data will be generated using direct measurements from Air Force Satellite Control Network (AFSCN) remote tracking stations (RTS), orbit reconstruction based on on-board beaconry, and post-processed GPS data and solutions. The attitude reference will be provided by an on-board strapdown IMU.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 48th Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation (1992) June 29 - 1, 1992 ANA Westin Hotel Dayton, OH
Pages:	317 - 326
Cite this article:	Anthony, Jack, Glascoe, William O., III, "U. S. Air Force Phillips Laboratory Autonomous Space Navigation Experiment," Proceedings of the 48th Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation (1992), Dayton, OH, June 1992, pp. 317-326.
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