Low Noise Miniature IMU for Harsh Space Environment

In this proposal we will develop key enabling components of, environmentally ruggedized, smaller size, radiation hardened and higher precision inertial navigations sensors.nbsp; Such sensors are necessary for various future NASA applications. These applications include scientific exploration of earth, the planets, moons, comets, and asteroids of our solar system using smaller and lower cost spacecraft to meet multiple mission requirements. We propose a new approach for the design and fabrication of miniaturized Fiber Optical Gyroscopes (FOGs) that can operate without degradation of performance during exposure to extreme space environmental conditions, including 10 M-rad total dose as expected in the Jovian mission, as well as the high vibration experienced during nbsp;launch, landing and surface explorations. Our proposed gyros enable the production of an environmentally robust, radiation hardened IMU, with enhanced bias performance and substantially reduced noise (ARW) of 0.002 deg/rt-hr at a volume smaller than 33 cubic inche and 0.02 deg/rt-hr with lt; 20 cubic inch IMU