Attitude Determination & Control (ADCS)
The subsystem that determines and controls which way a spacecraft points — sensing its orientation with star trackers and gyroscopes, and turning it with reaction wheels or thrusters.
Components
- Control Moment Gyroscope (CMG)Component
A spinning gyroscope whose axis is tilted to produce large control torques efficiently — used on big, agile spacecraft such as the International Space Station and Earth-imaging satellites.
- Reaction WheelComponent
A spinning flywheel that a spacecraft speeds up or slows down to rotate itself, by conservation of angular momentum, without using any propellant — the workhorse of precise pointing.
Related
Knowledge connections
- Associated withStar Tracker
- Associated withInertial Navigation
- ContainsReaction Wheel
- ContainsControl Moment Gyroscope (CMG)
Sources
The primary and reference sources this topic draws on.
- NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration
Mission data, planetary science, space telescopes, and public-domain imagery.
Most NASA-produced imagery is in the public domain; individual items are checked for usage terms before publication.
- ESAEuropean Space Agency
European missions, observatories, and space science imagery.