ESA GNC Conference Papers Repository

The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R Series (GOES-R) is the first of the next generation geostationary weather satellites. GOES-R successfully launched on November 19, 2016 and renamed GOES-16 upon entering geostationary orbit. Subsequently, GOES-16 post-launch testing began. This paper presents the GOES-16 Satellite Dynamic Interaction Characterization results for the EPP stowed and deployed (dual) isolation topologies. GOES-R represents a quantum increase in Earth and solar weather observation capabilities, with 4 times the resolution, 5 times the observation rate, and 3 times the number of spectral bands for Earth observations. With the improved resolution, comes the instrument suite's increased sensitive to disturbances over a broad spectrum 0-512 Hz. Sources of disturbance include reaction wheels, thruster firings for station keeping and momentum management, gimbal motion, and internal instrument disturbances. To minimize the impact of these disturbances, the baseline design included an Earth Pointed Platform (EPP), a stiff optical bench to which the two nadir pointed instruments are collocated together with the Guidance Navigation & Control (GN&C) star trackers and Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs). The EPP is passively isolated from the spacecraft bus with Honeywell D-Strut isolators providing attenuation for frequencies above ~5 Hz in all six degrees-of-freedom. To reduce the risk of wheel disturbances impacting performance, a secondary passive isolation system manufactured by Moog/CSA Engineering was incorporated under each of the six 160 Nms reaction wheels, tuned to provide attenuation at frequencies above ~50 Hz. Integrated wheel and isolator testing was performed on a Kistler table at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Pre-launch Satellite Dynamic Interaction Characterization high fidelity simulations and ground testing were conducted to evaluate jitter performance for two cases: 1) deployed EPP and reaction wheel dual isolation and 2) EPP hard mounted (stowed) to the spacecraft. A comparison of pre-launch to post-launch Satellite Dynamic Interaction Characterization results are also presented in this paper.