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They have to rotate it fast enough, and hubble is not built to rotate that fast
Is it an actual limitation of the hardware or a software safety limit? The designs are similar it more has to do with limitations put on it.
They mention they can’t because the gyro vibrates, so it does sound like it’s capable of spinning faster it’s limited for specific reasons.
The sattelite bus for the KH-11 Spy sattelites uses thrusters for orientation (and has a huge propellant tank) while the Hubble sattelite bus uses several gyroscopes for orientation. They are not as similar as you might think.
With reaction wheels could they not build up momentum over time to achieve the appropriate spin rate to match earths rotation?
After that it would just be timing and they could also layer multiple images together to work out details in theory.
You cannot spin up gyros indefinitely like e.g. in KSP.
schmidtster@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Is it an actual limitation of the hardware or a software safety limit? The designs are similar it more has to do with limitations put on it.
They mention they can’t because the gyro vibrates, so it does sound like it’s capable of spinning faster it’s limited for specific reasons.
Oszilloraptor@feddit.de 11 months ago
The sattelite bus for the KH-11 Spy sattelites uses thrusters for orientation (and has a huge propellant tank) while the Hubble sattelite bus uses several gyroscopes for orientation. They are not as similar as you might think.
schmidtster@lemmy.world 11 months ago
With reaction wheels could they not build up momentum over time to achieve the appropriate spin rate to match earths rotation?
After that it would just be timing and they could also layer multiple images together to work out details in theory.
Oszilloraptor@feddit.de 11 months ago
You cannot spin up gyros indefinitely like e.g. in KSP.