This Standard specifies a baseline for the attitude and orbit control system requirements to be used in the Project Requirements Document for space applications.
Project requirements documents are included in business agreements, which are agreed between the parties and binding them, at any level of space programmes, as described in ECSS-S-ST-00.
This Standard deals with the attitude and orbit control systems developed as part of a satellite space project. The classical attitude and orbit control systems considered here include the following functions:
- Attitude estimation
- Attitude guidance
- Attitude control
- Orbit control
- Orbit estimation, called Navigation in this document, can be part of the function for missions which explicitly require this function
- Acquisition and maintenance of a safe attitude in emergency cases and return to nominal mission upon command
The present Standard does not cover missions that include the following functions:
- Real-time on-board trajectory guidance and control
- Real-time on-board relative position estimation and control
Example of such missions are rendezvous, formation flying, launch vehicles and interplanetary vehicles.
Although the present document does not cover the above mentioned types of mission, it can be used as a reference document for them.
This standard may be tailored for the specific characteristic and constraints of a space project in conformance with ECSS-S-ST-00.