Sun sensors compared: 39 models

Sun sensors give a coarse or fine bearing to the Sun and are the cheapest attitude reference a satellite carries. Selection turns on accuracy and field of view first, then on how little mass and power the unit costs the bus.

Figures are taken from manufacturer datasheets and product pages, normalised to common units. Every row links to the product page and, where available, to the datasheet itself. As of 2026-08-13.

39
models listed
16
manufacturers
0.015 kg
median mass (0.003–1.3 kg, 33 values)
0.19 W
median power (0.015–5 W, 15 values)
Model Manufacturer Mass, kg Power, W Voltage, V Max dim., mm Accuracy Datasheet
NSS3 Sun Sensor Serenum Space 0.003 — 2.7–3.7 20.5 — —
TensorFSS-30M Fine Sun Sensor Tensor Tech (thermal) 0.003 — 3.3 22 — —
TensorFSS-15M Fine Sun Sensor Tensor Tech (thermal) 0.003 0.056 3.3 22 — —
Tensor Tech FSS-15 Fine Sun Sensor Tensor Tech (thermal) 0.004 — — — ± 0.1 deg with 45 deg FOV (1-sigma) ± 0. —
Nano Sun Sensor on a Chip (NanoSSOC) Solar MEMS Technologies 0.005 0.1 — — <0.5 degrees 1sigma —
SS200 AAC Clyde Space 0.005 0.015 3.3 20 <1° (1σ) in FOV PDF
CubeSat Sun Sensor SXC-SD-01-3U SPUTNIX 0.007 0.03 — 31.3 — —
Sun sensor SPUTNIX 0.007 0.03 5–12 31.3 <0.3° (1σ, any angle within FOV) —
Redwire Coarse Sun Sensor - Cosine Type Redwire Corporation 0.01 — — 28 — PDF
Coarse Sun Sensor — Cosine Type Redwire Corporation 0.01 — — 28 — —
CSS Coarse Sun Sensors Space Micro 0.01 — — — — —
Sun Sensor Glavkosmos 0.01 0.02 4–14 28 — —
SXC-SD-01 Sun Sensor SPUTNIX 0.01 0.015 4–14 28 ± 0.3° (1σ), ± 0.8° (3σ) —
Sun Sensor Pyxis Space 0.012 — — 24 <0.2° (calibrated) —
Eagle Plus Sun Sensor Needronix 0.012 — 3.3 — 0.0015° —
Eagle Sun Sensor Needronix 0.012 — 3.3 — 0.09° —
Bradford Redundant Cosine Sun Sensor (COSS-R) Bradford Space 0.015 — — — ±3° (3σ) OBC-limited PDF
Bradford Cosine Sun Sensor (CoSS) Bradford Space 0.025 — — 30 ±3° (3σ) OBC-limited PDF
Microsatellite Sun Sensor SX-SBOX-SUNS-01 SPUTNIX 0.045 0.4 — 43 — —
Solar sensor SPUTNIX 0.045 — 6–36 43 — —
SS-D Sun Sensor TY-Space Technology 0.045 1.1 — 36 5″[3σ] —
Bradford Mini Fine Sun Sensor (Mini FSS) Bradford Space 0.05 — — 50 ±0.2° (3σ) with LUT on OBC PDF
FSSA-110 Berlin Space Technologies 0.11 0.19 5 95 5° PDF
Redwire Coarse Sun Sensor - Pyramid Redwire Corporation 0.13 — — 89 +/-1 deg at null (typical), +/-5 deg ove PDF
Coarse Sun Sensor — Pyramid Type Redwire Corporation 0.13 — — 89 — —
Coarse Sun Sensor (CSS) Pyramid Adcole Space (Redwire) 0.13 — — — — PDF
Bradford Coarse Sun Sensor (CSS) Bradford Space 0.215 — — — ±2° (3σ) at BoL PDF
Miniature Spinning Sun Sensor Adcole Space (Redwire) 0.25 0.5 — — — PDF
Star Tracker HEX20 0.325 5 — 95 ~16 arcseconds —
S3 Smart Sun Sensor Leonardo SpA (Space Division) 0.33 — — 112 — —
Bradford Fine Sun Sensor (FSS) Bradford Space 0.375 0.3 — — ±0.3° (3σ) across mission lifetime PDF
Fine Spinning Sun Sensor (±64°) Adcole Space (Redwire) 0.71 0.4 — — — PDF
Digital Sun Sensor (±64°) Adcole Space (Redwire) 1.3 1 — — — PDF
Advanced Coarse Sun Sensor (ACSS) Solar MEMS Technologies — — 13–15 — — PDF
FDSS Fine Digital Sun Sensor Solar MEMS Technologies — — — — Better than 0.1 degree PDF
Fine Sun Sensor Adcole Space (Redwire) — — — — Sub-arcminute PDF
nanoSSOC A60 Solar MEMS Technologies — — 3.3–5 — — PDF
nanoSSOC-D60 Solar MEMS Technologies — — 3.3–5 — — PDF
SSOC A60 Solar MEMS Technologies — — 5 — — PDF

A dash means the figure is not published by the manufacturer. For 6 model(s) an extracted value fell outside the plausible range for this class of hardware and is withheld pending manual checking, rather than shown as fact. Download the same table as CSV — free to reuse with attribution (CC BY 4.0).

See also: all sun sensors in the catalogue · component benchmarks · other comparisons