Sinclair Star Tracker (ST-16RT2)
Sinclair Interplanetary (Rocket Lab)
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
- Absolute Accuracy
- 5 arcsecond cross-boresight (RMS)
- Absolute Accuracy (2)
- 55 arcsecond around boresight (RMS)
- Maximum slew rate
- 3°/second
- Detector
- 2592 x 1944 CMOS active-pixel sensor
- Supply voltage
- 9 V to 34 V
- Power
- < 0.5 W
- Lifetime
- 13 years LEO (800 km)
- Lifetime (2)
- 9 years GEO
- Field of view
- 8° half-angle
- Dimensions
- 62 x 56 x 38 mm
- Mass
- 158 g
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.