Star trackers represent the pinnacle of celestial navigation technology and play a major role in accurately identifying and tracking stellar objects, facilitating precise spacecraft alignments, orbital positioning, and trajectory calibrations. As the demand for space missions and satellite operations escalates across governmental and commercial realms, the development and deployment of advanced star tracker systems have become essential imperatives. In this article, SatNow has listed some interesting Star Trackers that were trending on the website in 2023.
Visit SatNow to keep up to date with new Star Tracker products, news, whitepapers, webinars, and events.
Star Tracker for SmallSat Attitude Determination
The ST200 from AAC Clyde Space is a Star Tracker that is designed for pico and nano-satellite platforms. It has an attitude determination accuracy of 30-200 arcseconds and an update rate of 5 Hz. This star tracker has a mass of 42 gms and a slew rate of 0.3-0.6 deg/sec. It requires a DC supply of 3.6-34 V and has a power consumption of up to 1000 mW. It measures 29 x 29 x 38.1 mm and is ideal for the attitude determination of small satellite platforms. Read more.
Star Tracker for LEO Spacecrafts
The HAST from Ball Aerospace is a Star Tracker that is capable of tracking multiple stars moving at 0-8 degrees/sec. This star tracker has a field of view of 8.0 x 8.0 degrees and an acquisition probability of greater than 99 %. It has an angular position estimation of 0.18 arcsec (1 σ) per star per frame and a sensitivity (MI) of 4.8 at a 100 Hz CCD frame rate. The HAST is ideally suited for civil, commercial, and defense satellite systems. Read more.
Star Tracker for CubeSats
The KU Leuven from CubeSat Pointing is a Star Tracker with a cross-boresight of 2 inches (1σ) and an around boresight of 10 inches (1σ). This star tracker can track up to 16 stars and has an update rate of 10 Hz. The star tracker has a baffle sun rejection angle of 40 degrees and a lost-in-space availability of greater than 99% of the night sky. It requires an interface supply voltage of 3.3 V and has a nominal power consumption of less than 1 W. The star tracker measures 95 x 50 x 45 mm. Read more.
Modular Star Tracker for Telecommunications Satellites
The HYDRA-CP from Sodern is a Modular Star Tracker with a slew rate of 5-8 deg/sec and has a bias of less than 11 arcsec. This star tracker requires a supply voltage of 4.5- 7 V (optical head) and has a power consumption of 0.8 to 1 W (optical head). The star tracker has an operating frequency of up to 10 Hz and an output rate of 8-10 Hz. It has a mass of 1.4 Kg (optical head) and measures 166 x 160 x 283 mm. The HYDRA-CP has a lifetime of up to 10 years in LEO and 18 years in GEO and is ideal for telecommunications and earth observation satellites. Read more.
Star Tracker for Small Spacecraft
The ST-16RT2 from Rocket Lab is a Star Tracker that is designed for operations in small spacecraft and has been part of several missions such as GHGSat-C3, Lemur, and Mandrake-1. It has an absolute accuracy of 5-55 arcsec with a maximum slew rate of 3 deg/sec. This star tracker has a mass of 158 gm and a field of view of 7.5 x 10 deg (half-angle). It requires a DC supply of 9-34 V and has a power consumption of up to 1 W. It measures 62 x 56 x 38 mm. Read more.
Star Tracker for CubeSat & NanoSat Applications
The Standard NST from Blue Canyon Technologies is a Star Tracker with an altitude accuracy of 6-40 arcseconds and a data update rate of 5 Hz. It has a field of view of 10 x 12 degrees. The star tracker requires a supply voltage of 5-28 V and a power consumption of 1.5-3.5 W. It has a mass of 0.35 kg and measures 10 x 5.5 x 5 cm. The Standard NST supports RS-422 and RS-485 interfaces and is ideal for LEO and GEO standalone missions or constellations. Read more.
3.3 V Star Tracker for Low-Power Applications
The CubeStar Gen 1 from CubeSpace Satellite Systems is a Star Tracker with an accuracy of 0.02° and a data update rate of 1 Hz. It requires a supply voltage of 3 V and a low power consumption of 0.142 W. The star tracker supports the UART interface with a qualified vibration value of 14g RMS and a radiation tolerance value of 24 kRad. It has a mass of 55 g and measures 50 x 35 x 55 mm. The CubeStar Gen 1 is ideal for Earth observation and communication applications. Read more.
Star Tracker for Celestial Observations
The ST-1 from NanoAvionics is a Star Tracker with an altitude accuracy of 1.5 arcseconds (Dynamic) and 80 arcseconds (Solar Inhibition). It has a field of view (FOV) of 21 arcseconds and a slew rate of Degree/sec. The star tracker has a data update rate of 5 Hz and has a power consumption of 1.2 W. The star tracker has a mass of 108 g and is ideal for measuring the line-of-sight vector of celestial objects. Read more.
Click here to learn more about Star Trackers listed on SatNow.
Note: This list has been compiled based on user activity on SatNow. To ensure that we cover the whole range of Star Trackers we limited the number of products from each category and company. The listed products are shown in random order and are grouped by category.
