Under an Air Force SBIR contract, Blue Canyon Technologies’ objective was to design, develop, and fabricate an all-in-one, packaged ADCS prototype unit to provide pointing accuracy of ± 0.2° or better…within a 10cm x 10cm x 5cm cube. The resulting XACT attitude control system and the products based upon the XACT technology have enabled a number of new missions for a wide range of organizations, including the Air Force, JPL, NASA Johnson, Southwest Research Institute, and Raytheon to name a few.
This Air Force SBIR award has led directly to the development of a line of products for BCT creating a demand in the small satellite spacecraft market. The XACT system sensors include: a Star Tracker, inertial measurement unit, sun sensor, magnetometer, and an optional GPS unit. Actuators include 3 Reaction Wheels, and 3 Torque Rods.