On-orbit calibration of domestic APS star tracker

Star sensor, which is the key factor in remote sensing satellite geometric accuracy, became more and more important in attitude determination and is widely used in current remote sensing satellites during the last years, for its highest absolute attitude measuring accuracy. Although the parameters of the stellar camera underwent a quantitative pre-launch calibration, the strong vibration that a satellite suffers during its launch and the change of space environmental factors are the major reasons that cause the variation of the parameters of the stellar camera, which then lead to the deterioration in attitude measurement accuracy of star tracker. For ZY 3 domestic APS star sensors on-board application, this paper propose a new on orbit calibration method for stellar camera based on the angular distance, with analyzing the regularity of lens distortion change, of which interior orientation elements and the lens distortion are simultaneously calibrated and the corresponding formula is derived. The experimental results with stellar image data from ZY-3 satellite demonstrate the advancement and effectiveness of this calibration method in improving the calibration accuracy of the stellar camera parameters.