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Off the Shelf | Sun Sensors

Mini Fine Sun Sensor

Overview

Bradford's Mini Fine Sun Sensor is designed to deliver exact information about the position of the sun in a compact package. This allows for spacecraft yaw control without a star tracker, and therefore is useful for Earth pointing devices and solar array orientation.

The Mini Fine Sun Sensor is an analogue sensor, based on the use of a quadrant detector which is capable of measuring the solar aspect angle in two axis. Processing the four quadrant outputs results in the two components and of the solar aspect angle. The applied algorithms cancel out all disturbances that are common to the four quadrants, such as temperature effects, particle radiation degradation, window performance and scale factors. For the conversion to signals that can be used by the spacecraft electronics system, the spacecraft may use passive conversion into signal voltages across load-resistors, or active conversion using current-to-voltage converters. It is designed for long duration low earth orbit missions.

A variant without read-out electronics is especially suited for small satellites.

Datasheet

Selected
Key Advantages
  • Tiny size and low mass
  • Retains high accuracy across lifetime
  • Tolerates frequent temperature swings found in LEO
  • Resists very severe radiation regions (including crossing Van Allen belts)
  • Self-powered device: zero power consumption
  • Alignment correction capability
Model Specification
ParameterSpecification
FOV
128 x 128 °
Accuracy
± 0.2 ° ( 3σ ) with provided LUT implemented on OBC
Resolution
< 0.03 °
Noise Equivalent Angle
< 0.005 ° ( 3σ )
Mass
50 g
Dimensions
50 x 46 x 17 mm
Power Consumption
0 W
Data Interface
Analogue voltage 0 - 5V
Reliability Figure
22.3 FIT @ 30 °C
Total Ionising Dose Resilience
20 kRad
Electrical Interface
9-pin micro-D connector
Mechanical Inferface
2x M3 + 1x M4 mounting holes
Configurations

Without Read-Out Electronics

Allows you to interface your OBC's ADC directly to the unit.

Baffle + Baseplate

Available with a range of baffle options to exclude stray light and achieve a narrower field of view

Used In

EUCLID

EUCLID

7/1/2023

Cislunar - L2

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