Modelling Gravitational Measurement Instruments and the Associated Drag Free Attitude Control Systems: Breaking the Traditional Borders Between Platform and Payload Modelling in ESA Operational Simulators

Abstract

In operational spacecraft simulators, the modelling of scientific payload instruments is very often limited to their resource usage and their physical/electrical behaviour. The Generation of realistic scientific data of these instruments is in contrary usually not in the scope of these simulators. A new family of scientific missions of the European Space Agency, ESA, such as the Lisa Pathfinder and the GOCE missions, incorporate however sophisticated gravitational measurement instruments. These instruments are integrated in the so called Drag Free Attitude Control System, DFACS, of the satellite and participate with their scientific data in the closed loop attitude control of the spacecraft. Modelling these instruments introduces therefore new challenges and breaks the traditional borders between the platform and payload modelling in operational simulator development. Nomenclature