Patent ID: 9296494
Filing Date: 2016-03-29
CPC Classification: B64G

Claim Text:
1. A spacecraft, comprising: a spacecraft body having an X-axis, a Y-axis, and a Z-axis; a plurality of gimbaled platforms mounted on an aft end of the spacecraft body; and a plurality of thrusters mounted on the plurality of gimbaled platforms; wherein each of the plurality of thrusters is oriented at an angle α, wherein α is an angle between the X-axis and a projection of a thrust vector of the respective thruster in an X/Y plane of the spacecraft; wherein each of the plurality of thrusters is orientated at an angle θ, where θ is an angle of the thrust vector of the respective thruster from plus or minus Z-axis; wherein the plurality of thrusters are configured to be located outside of the aft end of the spacecraft body along the Z-axis during operation; and wherein angle α and angle θ substantially maximize the following expression: where F E/W is an E/W stationkeeping fraction of total stationkeeping Delta-V, F N/S is an N/S stationkeeping fraction of the total stationkeeping Delta-V, ISP E/W is an ISP for E/W stationkeeping, ISP N/S is an ISP for N/S stationkeeping, and φ=tan −1 (2 tan α).