| Autor: |
Christian Bihr, Milan Klinc, Flavio Murolo, Paolo Pili, Rolf Brandt |
| Rok vydání: |
2014 |
| Předmět: |
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| Zdroj: |
SpaceOps 2014 Conference. |
| Popis: |
The Ultrasonic Gauging Sensor is an innovative instrument for the measurement of propellant on-board satellites. They are installed in the propellant feed port of each of the four tanks and are part of the Unified Propulsion System of EUMETSAT Meteosat Second Generation geostationary and spin-stabilized satellites MSG-3 and MSG-4. The UGS is used to allow exact gauging of propellant residuals in particular after the LEOP phase, where most of the initial propellant is consumed and towards the end of life to accurately determine the propellant limit conditions after which the start of the re-orbiting procedure is required. The ultrasonic sensor is designed to measure the tank filling level to ± 1 mm accuracy corresponding to the remaining amount of propellant. The excellent performance of the gauging unit is achieved also through a sophisticated three stage correction scheme that is applied to its measurement. This paper introduces the UGS technique and describes two measurement campaigns conducted on MSG-3. The first was performed after completion of the LEOP and handover of the S/C from ESOC to EUMETSAT in July 2012. The second measurement campaign was conducted at the end of 2012 applying a different strategy. The results of the different UGS measurement campaigns are analyzed, discussed and then compared with the results of the Book Keeping Method used by the flight dynamics team and based on thruster calibration characteristics. The first measurement campaign showed that the difference in the total propellant amount between BKM calculations and UGS measurements was of about 0.81% of the estimated mass. The second measurement campaign, with a new strategy implemented, showed that the difference was reduced even further to 0.69%. |
| Databáze: |
OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
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