TechnicalADCS
Attitude Determination and Control
The subsystem that senses and controls a spacecraft's orientation, keeping instruments, antennas, and solar arrays correctly pointed.
Attitude determination and control combines sensors (such as star trackers, sun sensors, and gyroscopes) with actuators (such as reaction wheels, magnetorquers, and thrusters) to measure and adjust a spacecraft's orientation.
Accurate attitude control is essential for pointing payloads at targets, antennas at ground stations, and solar arrays at the Sun, and for executing manoeuvres. Loss of attitude control often triggers a protective safe mode.