In this paper, we present user-cases for Astrix NS. Astrix NS is a new commercially available space gyroscope. It is small and precise enough to enhance the telescope line-of-sight (LOS) command and control loop. Moreover, its fully solid-state technology (no moving or vibrating parts) avoids any parasitic vibrations that could damage the performances of the telescopes and prevent its installation close or even inside the optical instrument. With an absolute angular knowledge error (AKE [1]) of 0.3 μrad at 10 milliseconds inside a 100 x 100 x 100 mm box and 1.4 kg weight, Astrix NS can be placed inside or near the telescope. Then, it can measure the deformation of the satellite or telescope structure in order to compensate them and to enhance imaging performances. Astrix NS is designed and qualified for LEO and GEO missions. Its performances, such as an ARW of 5 m°/√h and down to 2.5 m°/√h, a scale factor life stability below 200 ppm and a bias stability of 0.02°/h, already allow Astrix NS to be used in a large range of classical AOCS roles: telecommunication, Earth observation and scientific missions.
Based on the experience acquired early from pioneering work at Stanford University and Thomson-CSF starting in the mid 70s, fiber optic gyro (FOG) R&D began at Photonetics in the late 80s to yield OCTANS, a FOG-based inertial strapdown system providing attitude and gyro compassing, at the end of the 90s. This FOG activity was spun out from Photonetics in October 2000 to create iXsea with only 16 people. The product line was rapidly expanded with PHINS, an inertial-grade INS (Inertial Navigation System) and later with MARINS, a strategic-grade INS, as well as with ASTRIX systems developed for satellites in cooperation with EADS-Astrium (today Airbus Defence & Space). In 2010, iXsea merged with several subsidiaries of its parent company, iXcore, to create iXblue. Among these subsidiaries were iXfiber, a maker of specialty fibers, and Photline, producing lithium-niobate integrated optics, hence allowing iXblue to fully master the key FOG components supply chain. Ten years later, the ‘adventure' is continuing and the former start-up is now quite a significant player in the inertial world, especially for high-grade applications. The cumulated number of high-performance 3-axis systems in service has grown to over 8,000, i.e. more than 25,000 FOG axes, with a bias stability ranging from 30 mdeg/h down to 15 μdeg/h, and an angular random walk (ARW) performance ranging from 8 mdeg/√h down to 40 μdeg/√h depending on the size of their sensing coils (3 m2 to 1000 m2) and on the application!
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