Inertial Stellar Compass

Spacecraft navigation system

Inertial Stellar Compass (ISC) is an instrument concept for an advanced navigation system designed to allow spacecraft of the future to operate more autonomously.

The ISC is small in size and consumes low power to operate. ISC is a proposed instrument of NASA, part of New Millennium program's Space Technology 6 project, and currently under development at Charles Stark Draper Laboratory.^[1]^[2]

The instrument functions with a combination of a miniaturized star tracker and gyroscopes. It uses a wide field-of-view active pixel star camera and a micro electromechanical system to determine the real-time stellar attitude (orientation) of the spacecraft. It has a mass of 2.5 kg (5.5 lb) and requires 3.5 W power.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b "The Inertial Stellar Compass: A New Direction in Spacecraft Attitude Determination" (PDF). 16th Annual USU Conference on Small Satellites. 2002. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
^ "Inertial Stellar Compass". Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 7 January 2018.

Science instruments on satellites and spacecraft

Radar

Cassini–Huygens
Magellan
Pioneer Venus Orbiter
REASON
SELENE
SHARAD
MARSIS
Venera 4
8
9
10
15
16
WISDOM

Radio science

Radiometer

Microwave

Near-Earth	AQUA AMR-C (Sentinel-6) AMSR-E (AQUA) AMSR (ADEOS II) AMSR2 (Shizuku) DMSP 5D-2/F13-F15 DMSP 5D-2/F16 ERSS Envisat GPM Core Kanopus-ST MIRAS MISR, MOPITT (Terra) MSR (MOS-1, MOS-1b) MTVZA (Meteor-3M-1) MTVZA-GYa Meteor-M2 Meteor-M2-1 Nimbus 7 RM-08 and MTVZA-OK (Sich-1M) Seasat Sentinel-3 SMAP SMMR SMOS SSM/I SSMIS TRMM WSF-M Zond-PP
Interplanetary	Cassini-Huygens Electra (radio) Mariner 2 MWR (Juno) Rosetta

Infrared-visible

Near-Earth	AVHRR ASTER, MISR (Terra) AIRS AVNIR AVNIR-2 CERES (TRMM, Terra, Aura, Suomi NPP, NOAA-20) ERBS ERSS GLI (ADEOS II) Kanopus-V-IK MESSR and VTIR MOS-1 1b Meteor-2 MODIS (Terra, Aqua) OPS (JERS-1) ORI (EURECA) Radiation Budget Instrument SGLI (GCOM-C) SLSTR (Sentinel-3) VIIRS (Suomi NPP, NOAA-21)
Interplanetary	COMARS+ (on Schiaparelli) Diviner (on LRO) HP3 (on InSight) IRIS Luna 13 Mariner 6 and 7 Mariner 10 Mars 96 2M No.521 2M No.522 Pioneer 10 11 PMIRR (on Mars Climate Orbiter) Venera 9 10 Voyager 1 2

Ultraviolet (UV)

Near-Earth	ORI (EURECA) LYRA Proba-2

Spectrophotometers

Long wavelength

Interplanetary	ISO

Visible-IR (VIRS)

Near-Earth	CASE MOMS Multispectral Scanner SCIAMACHY TES TRMM
Interplanetary	AKARI Rosalind Franklin rover MA-MISS ISEM Infrared Space Observatory IRIS (Voyager 1 and 2) JIRAM (on Juno) M³ Mariner 6 and 7 MESSENGER MERIS E-THEMIS, MISE, SUDA (on Europa Clipper) Ralph SPICAM SPICAV Venus Emissivity Mapper

UV-visible (UVVS)

Interplanetary	Alice Mariner 6 and 7 Mariner 10 MESSENGER NOMAD SPICAM SPICAV UVS Voyager 1 2

Raman

Interplanetary	Raman Laser Spectrometer (Rosalind Franklin rover) SHERLOC (Perseverance rover)

Magnetometer

Near-Earth

GOES
QuakeSat 1 and 2
SGVM
- Proba-2

Interplanetary

FIELDS
Pioneer 10
11
Voyager 1
2
MAG (Juno)
ICEMAG and PIMS (Europa Clipper)

Triaxial fluxgate

Near-Earth	Swarm
Interplanetary	Cassini–Huygens FIELDS Magsat Mariner 2 4 5 10 MESSENGER Pioneer 11 Venus Express

Helium vapor

Near-Earth	Swarm
Interplanetary	Cassini–Huygens

Particle
detectors

Ion detectors

Near-Earth	DEMETER TPMU and DSLP Proba-2
Interplanetary	ASPERA-3 ASPERA-4 Mariner 2 SPS Ulysses

Neutral particle detector

Interplanetary	ADRON-RM (Rosalind Franklin rover) ASPERA-3 (on Mars Express) ASPERA-4 (on Venus Express) DAN (on Curiosity) FREND (on ExoMars TGO) Nozomi SPS (on Mariner 2) Ulysses