THE FUTURE OF TIME DOMAIN SWITCHED (TDS) INERTIAL SENSORS AS AN ENABLER FOR NEXT GENERATION MISSIONS

MEMS inertial sensors are on the cusp of reaching performance levels that will provide the transformative capabilities necessary to revolutionize the autonomy, navigation and control of spacecraft. The low power, enhanced resolution and superior long term stability of next generation devices will not only enable new missions but also provide an order of magnitude improvement to existing missions. The performance of these devices will provide new and unique measurements to navigation and attitude determination filters to allow for precision maneuver control and reconstruction, open loop slewing, direct sensing of the perturbing environment, redundant attitude knowledge, transforming the vehicle into a gyro and in the extreme, enabling gravity gradient navigation. In each case the fundamental metrology provided by these sensors allows for increased mission availability, improved state knowledge and enhanced collection opportunities.