CatSat Tracks Tucson

Following weeks of work, the CatSat team on October 15th implemented a fix to the spacecraft's attitude control system, allowing CatSat to accurately point and image specific targets. To demonstrate this new capability, the team instructed CatSat to point and capture an image sequence of Tucson as it flew overhead. The captured image sequence shows that the spacecraft successfully tracked its target to within a few degrees. More than just pictures, this ability will allow CatSat to accurately point its patch antennas to the receiving dish when conducting a downlink, increasing the signal strength and allowing a faster data rate.

In the featured image, Tucson is located just below the small cloud spur near the center of the image. Phoenix can be seen as a gray coloration on the desert floor towards the bottom left of the image. A small portion of the Gulf of Mexico is visible in the bottom right corner of the image. The full image sequence is available on the Image Sequences page.