ABSTRACT
The Tether Physics and Survivability (TiPS) satellite was launched by Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) on 20 June 1996. This satellite is comprised of two small subsatellites connected by a 4 km tether. The purpose of the TiPS experiment was to study the dynamics of the tethered system and to see whether it could survive in debris-filled space. The algorithms [1] for attitude and orbit determination developed for TiPS were implemented by NRL. The objective was to be able, from the previous passes, to provide the Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) pointing vectors with enough precision for the laser to acquire either of the subsatellites without extensive search. As of June 97, this objective had not been achieved on a regular basis. The primary problem was attributed to the sensitivity of the attitude to changes in the orbit. This sensitivity could have been due to the fact that the center of mass was not being tracked accurately or due to short track lengths. Small changes in the orbit
FIGURE 1. Roll Angle Error vs. Orbit Plane Error Sensitivity.
