English term
operate the spacecraft in the planned pointing direction
The sunshield [of Cheops] also doubles as the structure carrying three solar panels, which are orientated in such a way as to provide sufficient power *to operate the spacecraft in the planned pointing direction*.
According to you, does this mean to bring the spacecraft in the planned pointing direction or to operate the spacecraft once it is positioned in the planned pointing direction?
Thank you for your help!
Non-PRO (1): Yvonne Gallagher
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Responses
operate the spacecraft in such a way to keep the telescope pointing in the planned/desired direction
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Note added at 12 hrs (2019-06-25 03:15:53 GMT)
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the spacecraft keeps moving - the point is to keep the telescope pointing in the desired direction.
Telescopes built on the surface of the Earth have a similar problem - as the Earth keeps rotating, the sky doesn't stand still, so "operating the telescope" must include a system to keep the telescope pointing in the same direction.
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Note added at 13 hrs (2019-06-25 04:07:02 GMT)
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obviously the "pointing of the telescope" [in any direction - wrong or right one] can be done only once the whole spacecraft has been detached from the satellite-launching rocket, stripped of the protective envelope and put in orbit.
United States
Marketing + Design + Arts/Culture
Native in: English
Works in: English, Portuguese to English, English to Portuguese
to operate the spacecraft once it’s in the planned position
| Thank you! |
| disagree |
Daryo
: explanation
11 hrs
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| agree |
D. I. Verrelli
: The solar panels provide power to the spacecraft, and this is sufficient for the spacecraft's operational needs while the spacecraft is pointing in the planned direction.
1 day 3 mins
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| agree |
Yvonne Gallagher
: explanation needed for 100% but this isn't wrong. Solar panels (on 3 sides so facing sun) power spacecraft once in orbit
2 days 57 mins
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Translations by lawyers for lawyers
Native in: English 
Works in: Portuguese to English, English
see explanation
| Thank you for this explanation! |
| neutral |
Daryo
: you are assuming that the telescope is in fixed position in relation the the spacecraft - we don't if it's true or not.
12 hrs
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Discussion
If you mean by "its position" bringing the telescope to point in the desired direction, that must be using some energy, but we can not guess the technical details of how the energy collected by the solar panel is used. To which extant there is some fuel available and to which extent the energy from solar panel is used is impossible to know from the fragment of ST available.
We also can only guess if the whole spacecraft is monolithic or some part can move in relation to the rest of the spacecraft. The energy from the solar panel is for sure used to supply with power the electronics and instruments on board, but the rest is far from obvious.
But as far as what "operating" means, it's about keeping the telescope pointing in the desired direction, while slowly rotating it along its axis.
«A 3-axis stabilized spacecraft, keeping the telescope line of sight fixed in inertial reference frame with an APE (Absolute Performance Error) better than 8 arcsec for pointing accuracy (for 68% of the observation time), slowly rotating around the telescope line of sight for maintaining the focal plane radiator oriented towards cold space (i.e., at zenith of the subsatellite point), enabling a passive cooling of the CIS (Contact Image Sensor) detector to 233 K.»
My problem is to know if the energy from the solar panels is used to orientate the telescope to its pointing direction (which will probably change over time) or to operate the spacecraft once it's in its position.
the spacecraft's pointing direction,
the three solar panels are orientated in such a way to provide sufficient power to operate the spacecraft in the planned pointing direction