A Star tracker is an optical instrument that measures the positions of stars using photocells or a camera. Since astronomers have precisely measured the positions of numerous stars, a star tracker on a satellite or spacecraft can determine the orientation (or attitude) of the spacecraft relative to the stars. In this article, SATNow has listed some interesting star trackers that were trending on the website.
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High resolution Star Tracker for Earth Observation from GEO and LEO
The ASTRO XP from Jena-Optronik GmbH is a Star Tracker that has an attitude error in a plane of less than 0.1 arcsec. It has a time tag accuracy of less than 0.1 ms and a field of view of less than 0.3 deg. It has a mass of 2.5 kg and a sun exclusion angle of 30 degrees. It requires a DC power supply of 28 V and has a nominal power consumption of 1.5 W. The star tracker has been developed to meet the specific requirements for high-accuracy star tracking in science missions and high-resolution Earth observation from GEO and LEO. Read more.
Star Tracker Optical Head for Small Satellite Missions
The AURIGA-CP from Sodern is a Star Tracker with a slew rate of 0.3-3 deg/sec and a bias of 0.017 deg. It requires an optical head supply voltage of 5 V and has a power consumption of 0.8-1.1 W. It has an optical head mass of 205 g and measures 66 x 56 x 94 mm. The star tracker has an operating frequency of up to 10 Hz and an output rate of 5-10 Hz. The AURIGA-CP has a lifetime of up to 10 years in LEO and 50 years of experience with star trackers and is ideal for small satellite missions. Read more.
Small Satellite Star Tracker
The ST400-T from AAC Clyde Space is a Star Tracker that is developed for microsatellite systems. This star tracker has an attitude determination accuracy of 10 arcseconds (pitch, yaw) and 120 arcseconds (roll). It has an update rate of 5 Hz and a maximum slew rate of 0.5 degrees/sec (tip/tilt) and 1 degree/sec (roll). It has a mass of 280 gms and measures 53.8 x 53.8 x 90.5 mm. It is ideal for attitude determination in small satellites and is aimed at applications in pico- and nano-satellite platforms. 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. It supports RS-422, I2C bus, and LVDS bus interfaces of star map data. The star tracker has a mass of 108 g and is ideal for measuring the line-of-sight vector of celestial objects. 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. It requires a power supply of 22 to 36 VDC. The HAST is ideally suited for civil, commercial, and defense satellite systems. Read more.
Space Qualified Star Tracker for Small Satellites
The Star Tracker for Nano Satellites (STNS) from Solar MEMS is a Star Tracker with a field of view of 15 x 18 degrees (Rectangular) and an accuracy of 30 arcseconds (3sigma). It has an exclusion HFOV of 41 degrees (Sun - Cubesat baffle) and 30 degrees (Sun - Standard baffle). It is radiation-hardened up to 10 Krad and supports a UART, nanoD 15 pins connector electrical interface. The star tracker weighs 160-200 g and measures 90 x 52 x 38 mm (Cubesat). It is ideal for attitude determination in small satellites. Read more.
1.3 W Radiation Tested Star Tracker for CubeSats
The Sagitta Star Tracker from ARCSEC is a Star Tracker with an altitude accuracy of 2-10 arcseconds and a data update rate of 5 Hz. It has a field of view of 40 Degrees with autonomous calibration. It features a full image download capability with star tracking and attitude determination. The star tracker supports the RS-485 interface with an alignment cube for integration. This star tracker has a mass of 270 g and is designed with a built-in baffle for CubeSats and large satellites. 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. It 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.
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. It has a mass of 158 gms and a field of view of 7.5 x 10 deg (half-angle). This star tracker supports two half-duplex RS-485 interfaces and has a full-custom 16 mm f/1.6 4-element glass and a CMOS active-pixel sensor. It measures 62 x 56 x 38 mm. 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.
Autonomous Star Tracker for Commercial Geostationary Satellites
The A-STR from Leonardo is an Autonomous Star Tracker that is designed for satellites used in LEO and GEO orbits. It has an accuracy of 8.25-11.1 arcsec and an update rate of 4-10 Hz. It has a mass of 3.55 Kg and requires a DC supply of 20-50 V and has a power consumption of up to 13.5 W. This MIL-STD-1553B certified star tracker measures 195 x 175 x 290.5 mm and is ideal for telecommunication geostationary satellites, earth observation satellites, scientific satellites, and interplanetary missions/probes applications. Read more.
Star Tracker for NanoSat and CubeSat Missions
The SpectraTRAC from Redwire Space is a Star Tracker with an altitude accuracy of 10-27 arcseconds and a data update rate of 4 Hz. It has a maximum tracking rate of 2 Degrees/sec and a baffle sun exclusion of 45 degrees. It has a lens aperture of 22 mm and a field of view of 14 x 19 Degrees. It has a mass of 475 g and measures 120 X 61 X 61 mm. This star tracker is ideal for attitude awareness, positional knowledge, spaceflight missions, NanoSat, and CubeSat missions. Read more.
Compact Star Tracker for NanoSats & MicroSats
The T3 Star Tracker from TERMA is a Star Tracker whose optical head is based on a Faintstar-2 CMOS active pixel sensor. It has an accuracy of 10 arcsec and a maximum update rate of 5 Hz. The star tracker has a mass of 350 g and measures 60 x 60 x 100 mm. This star tracker has a slew rate of less than 1.5 degrees/sec and an acquisition time of 10 s. It has a circular field of view of 20 degrees and an APS resolution of 1024 x 1024 pixels. The star tracker has a lifetime of over 5 years and is ideally suited for nano and microsatellite missions. 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). It can track up to 16 stars and has an update rate of 10 Hz. This star tracker can track up to 16 stars and has an update rate of 10 Hz. It features an on-board calibration algorithm, The star tracker 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.
High Reliability and Very Low Read Noise Space Micro Star Trackers
The µSTAR-250 from Space Micro is a Star Tracker that is designed for LEO, MEO, and GEO Satellite orbits. It has a field of view of 14 degrees and has a core boresight of less than 0.2 sec. This star tracker supports RS422, SpaceWire, Camera link, and MIL-STD-1553 interfaces. It has a mass of 750 g and measures 4.2 x 3.35 x 10.3 inches. This star tracker is ideal for attitude rate determination, space situational awareness, long-duration, and high-reliability missions. Read more.
High Precision Pico Star Tracker for Cubic Satellite Applications
The PST3S-H2 from TY-Space Technology Ltd is a Star Tracker that is designed for the Pico satellite platform. It has an attitude accuracy of 5 degrees (pointing) and 50 degrees (rolling). It has an update rate of greater than 10 Hz and a maximum acquisition rate of 2 seconds. It requires a supply voltage of 5 V and has a power consumption of 0.7 W. The star tracker supports the RS-422 and digital interface. It has a mass of 85g and measures 33 x 33 x 96 mm. Read more.
Autonomous Star Tracker for CubeSats and Nano Satellites
The STAR TRACKER-ST200 from Berlin Space Technologies is a Star Tracker that has an accuracy of 10-70 arcsec and an update rate of 5 Hz. It has a slew rate of less than 1 degree/sec which supports UART and RS422. It has a mass of 40 g for ST200 with UART Interface with 106 g for Baffle 40° Sun Exclusion and measures 30 x 30 x 39 mm3 (ST200) with 50 x 50 x 83 mm3 for Baffle 40° Sun Exclusion. It is ideally suited for Cubesats or other sophisticated nano-satellites. Read more.
Star Sensor System for Spacecraft Pointing and Control
The Mark-3 Star Sensor (M3SS) from Antrix Corporation Limited is a Star Tracker that is based on a CMOS Active pixel sensors detector with a 1024 x 1024 element array. It has an attitude accuracy of 10 cross-axis axis and an attitude update rate of 8 Hz. The star tracker has an angular rate of up to 2 degrees/sec and a lost in space acquisition time of 6 seconds. The star tracker has a mass of 2.0 kg for OUI with 4.25 kg for APU and measures 260 x 270 x 120 mm. The star tracker is ideal for the GEO and LEO missions. Read more.
Star Tracker for CubeSat and NanoSat missions
The Star Tracker - KAIROSPACE from KAIROSPACE Co., Ltd is a Star Tracker with a pointing accuracy of 5 arcseconds and a rolling accuracy of 60 arcseconds. It has a maximum angular velocity of 5 °/s and a maximum data update rate of 10 Hz. This star tracker has a mass of 197 g and measures 56 x 60 x 93 mm. It is designed with minimized dimensions, weight, and power consumption maintaining high accuracy which makes it ideal for CubeSat and NanoSat missions. Read more.
High-Performance Star Tracker for Small Satellites
The VST-68M from VECTRONIC Aerospace GmbH is a Star Tracker designed with a core element of the sensor’s processing electronics a 1024 x 1024 pixel rad-hard CMOS sensor. It has an accuracy of 5-30 arcsec and a maximum update rate of 5 Hz. The star tracker has a mass of 0.47 kg and measures 60 x 60 x 138 mm. It is ideally suited for small satellite applications with the technical capabilities and radiation tolerance suitable for LEO, GEO, and even for interplanetary missions. Read more.
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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.
