HARDWARE / PRODUCT

Sinclair Star Tracker (ST-16RT2)

Sinclair Interplanetary (Rocket Lab)
Sinclair Star Tracker (ST-16RT2)

High-performance star tracker and baffle for small spacecraft, with 78+ units flown on more than a dozen missions.

Technical specifications

On-orbit heritage
78+ units across SkySat, BRITE, GHGSat, Landmapper-BC, MKA-N, BlackSky Global, ALE, Momentus X-1, NEMO-HD and others
Product type
Star tracker with integrated sun-baffle
Interface
Serial digital interface, quaternion attitude output plus telemetry

About

Sinclair Interplanetary builds high-performance star trackers and sun-baffles for small spacecraft. As of the most recent published heritage list, there were 78 units on-orbit across the following missions: SkySat-1 through -21 (two per spacecraft, 42 total), BRITE-PL1, BRITE-PL2, BRITE-Toronto and BRITE-Montreal (one each, 4 total), Perseus M-1 and M-2 (one each, 2 total), GHGSat-D ‘CLAIRE’ (one unit), GHGSat-C ‘IRIS’ (integrated into the Darkstar laser downlink terminal), Landmapper-BC 1 through 5 (one each, 5 total), MKA-N 1 and 2 (one each, 2 total), BlackSky Global-1, -2, -3, -4, -7 and -8 (two each, 12 total), ALE 1 and 2 (two each, 4 total), two confidential commercial spacecraft, Momentus X-1 (one unit) and NEMO-HD (two units). The tracker incorporates a built-in digital processor, communicates over a serial interface, and reports attitude quaternion solutions plus housekeeping telemetry.

Documentation

Need the full ICD, test reports or a specific revision? Ask the supplier directly.

Source: web.archive.org ↗