SINOPSIS

At the present time almost all methods of estimating spacecraft angular orientation parameters by vector measurements are based on Wahba's problem solution. In case of using quaternion for orientation description the solving of Wahba's problem is reduced to finding the eigenvector corresponding to the maximum eigenvalue of Davenport's matrix. The main drawback of all known attitude determination algorithms using this approach is the fact that they do not have a precise solution and need application of numerical method that complicates their use aboard a spacecraft. The analytical solution of attitude determination problem via vector measurements in Davenport's formulation is obtained. The result of numerical modeling of the proposed algorithm is presented.