Low-cost Raspberry Pi star sensor for small satellites

Abstract

We present a low-cost Raspberry Pi-based star sensor StarberrySense using commercial-off-the-shelf components, developed and built for applications in small satellites and CubeSat-based missions. A star sensor is one of the essential instruments on board a satellite for attitude determination. However, most commercially available star sensors are expensive and too bulky for use in small satellite missions. StarberrySense is a configurable system—it can operate as an imaging camera, a centroiding camera, or a star sensor. We describe the algorithms implemented in the sensor, its assembly, and its calibration. This payload was selected by a recent announcement of an opportunity call for payloads to fly on the PS4-Orbital Platform by the Indian Space Research Organization. © 2022 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) [DOI: 10.1117/1.JATIS.8.3.036002]