Self-Calibration and Self-Alignment (SC/SA) for Spacecraft GN&C Components and Payload

Microcosm and HRP Systems, with Boeing providing in-kind support, will develop a self-calibration/self-alignment (SC/SA) system for spacecraft guidance, navigation, and control (GN&C) systems and payloads to simplify the spacecraft assembly, integration, and test (AI&T) process, reducing both development schedule and cost. The proposed SC/SA capability is based in part on Boeing’s Cost-Competitive and Operationally Responsive GN&C IR&D program that has been in process for 2 years. The SC/SA capability will simplify or eliminate time-consuming factory alignment and calibration of spacecraft GN&C system sensors and actuators, as well as some types of payloads, significantly reducing AI&T cycle time and costs. Phase I will assess the Boeing SC/SA approach and tailor it to improve the MDA-specific AI&T process. In discussions with MDA, requirements and key use cases will be developed, a SC/SA concept design produced, and system feasibility assessed via the Boeing detailed spacecraft simulation environment and parallel Microcosm analysis and simulation. In Phase II, Boeing will become a formal subcontractor, and SC/SA prototype flight software will be developed and tested in a ground-based testbed to prepare for a flight test.