Comparison Test Method and Test Result of Star Sensor’s Baffle Based on Carbon Nanotube

Abstract

Star sensor is a kind of autonomous navigation equipment suitable for deep space exploration, which has the characteristics of small size and high accuracy. The carbon nanotube (CNT) has very high absorption, which is an ideal coating for star sensor to suppress stray light in space. In this paper, a comparison test method of star sensor based on carbon nanotube coating is proposed. A new type of baffle based on CNT paint was designed. Three types of baffles were manufactured, namely, the newly designed baffle, the traditional structure plus the traditional black paint baffle, and the traditional structure plus CNT paint baffle. The stray-light-suppression ability of the three types of baffle was compared and tested. The test results show that the performance of the new baffle with CNT paint is the best, and its stray-light-suppression ability is about three times that of the traditional black paint baffle. The second is the baffle with traditional structure and the CNT paint. The performance of the baffle using traditional black paint and traditional structure is weak. Therefore, the baffle structure design and CNT paint have an important impact on the stray-light-suppression ability of the star sensor. CNT paint can effectively improve the stray light suppression ability of star sensor.