Effects of Thrust Noise and Measurement Noise on Drag-Free and Attitude Control System

In order to reduce the interference of space environment in space microgravity experiments, one drag-free and attitude control system could be used in space science experiments to compensate non-conservative forces and to minimize residual disturbances of the satellite. As the main parts of the drag-free control system, noises of thrusters and GPS receivers have significant impacts on the performance of the control system. To accurately analyze these effects, a cusped field thruster is used in this paper and its noise characteristics are measured first. Second, a drag-free and attitude control system with both thrust noise and measurement noise considered is designed. Then, the effects of these noises on the whole control system are analyzed thoroughly. Finally, two noise reduction methods for those two noises are used in this study and the effectiveness of noise suppression methods is verified.