Preliminary Design of Tracking Mount for Movable SLR

Abstract

In this paper, we present the result of preliminary design of tracking mount for ARGO-M which is a movable satellite laser ranging (SLR) system developed by Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI). The tracking mount consists of a couple of core parts such as driving motors, encoders and bearings, and the requirements of each parts are determined on the basis of the technical consideration. 2D and 3D models for tracking mount were preliminarily designed using the selected core parts. In order to evaluate the validity of the preliminarily design, the simulator to test the elevation axis was designed and manufactured. The test to check the tracking performance and system accuracy of the simulator was performed, and it was confirmed that the preliminary design meets the operating specifications. Additionally, it was found that the repetitive errors and hysteresis errors need to be improved by the additional control algorithm.

Keywords

• satellite laser ranging
• tracking mount
• preliminary design
• system accuracy