Patent ID: 7739003

Claim:
A method of determining and controlling an inertial attitude of an artificial satellite about a spin axis, the method comprising: determining a square of a first radius (R 1 2 ) of a track of a first astronomical object; determining a square of a second radius (R 2 2 ) of a track of a second astronomical object; determining a square of a third radius (R 3 2 ) of a track of a third astronomical object; determining the inertial attitude of the spin axis using the squares of the first, second, and third radii (R 1 2 , R 2 2 , and R 3 2 ) to calculate pitch, yaw, and roll; determining a change in the pitch and yaw of the artificial satellite necessary to maintain said inertial attitude; and applying gyroscopic precession to maintain said inertial attitude.