Abstract: The star sensor’s low frequency error (LFE) caused by the thermal distortion of the star sensor and its bracket may affect the satellite attitude determination accuracy. In order to cope with this problem, a low frequency error calibration method for star sensor based on the landmark information obtained from the payload is proposed by using the least square (LS) algorithm in this paper. Considering that the satellite attitude determination system serves for the payload, the purpose of the paper is to make the attitude information from the satellite attitude determination system consistent with that from the payload, such that the boresight of the payload can be determined accurately. Thus, the landmark information provided by the payload is adopted as the observation for the calibration for the low frequency error of star sensor. It is illustrated from numerical simulation that the effect of the star sensor’s low frequency error on attitude determination accuracy is effectively decreased by using the proposed method, and the satellite attitude determination accuracy is improved.

Key words: star sensor, low frequency error, calibration, landmark