Roid Rage You Want It to Burn This Way
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Nov 6, 2025 Explore the intricacies of spacecraft navigation with engineers discussing the innovative gimbal system behind DeepSpace-2. Discover how a single electric thruster transforms trajectory planning and momentum management, along with the challenges of using fewer thrusters. Learn about the sophisticated software and lookup tables built to control pointing directions, as well as the testing methodologies devised to ensure precision. Delve into the surprising complexities of engineering solutions that support electric propulsion in space!
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Pointing Changed By Propulsion Choice
- DeepSpace‑2 still uses reaction wheels for attitude control while changing how wheels are desaturated due to the new propulsion system.
- The gimbal-plus-electric thruster combination replaces multi‑thruster torque strategies and changes overall pointing architecture.
Single Thruster Needs A Gimbal
- Switching from five chemical thrusters to a single electric thruster requires a gimbal to produce torques previously achieved by firing different thruster pairs.
- The gimbal enables both trajectory changes and reaction wheel desaturation with one pointed thruster.
Two Thrusters For Redundancy, Not Simultaneous Use
- Astroforge uses two identical electric thrusters but will only fire one at a time for redundancy and power reasons.
- Thrusters draw roughly 600–1,200 watts, and the electrical system cannot support both at max power.