Abstract: Dust particles are generated with the satelliterocket separation by explosion of initiating devices. Star trackers are interfered by scattered stray light from the particles, resulting in attitude capture failures. In this paper, imaging with scattered stray light is modeled and analyzed, and the common feature of star energy distribution between star images with and without stray light is proposed. A fast star extraction algorithm based on crosscorrelation coefficient is presented, which is effective in conditions of strong scattered stray light. Based on the algorithm, the star points are extracted practically, and the attitude capture is realized rapidly. Simulations on star extraction and attitude capture with different stray light conditions are carried out. In comparison with the traditional algorithm, the proposed algorithm shows advantages on star extraction capability and attitude capture in different conditions.

Key words: star tracker, strong scattered stray light, star extraction, attitude capture