A Reaction Sphere for High Performance Attitude Control

Our innovative reaction sphere (Doty pending patent application serial number 61/164,868) has the potential to provide much higher performance than a conventional reaction wheel with substantially fewer resources. Using our proposed technology, a single reaction sphere can control three axes, substantially reducing mass, power, and cost when compared to a three wheel system. This device has no bearings: its spherical rotor is suspended within the stator by magnetic forces. Magnetic suspension reduces jitter, especially in a station-keeping mode where the torque and suspension forces can be reduced to a minimum. With clearances of ~1 mm and no critical balance requirements, this device has very loose mechanical tolerances, further reducing cost. For initial development we propose a version suitable for control of a 1-3 kg Cubesat. At this scale, where spacecraft moments of inertia are very small, our low jitter torque, simplicity, and low cost are most advantageous. We also believe this approach is most likely to lead to an early flight opportunity.

Many non-NASA missions use reaction wheels and may benefit from this innovation. Our technology is not restricted to any specific type of mission. The Cubesat-scale product we intend to develop is particularly well suited to privately funded university based astronomy and Earth science missions. NSF and DOD are also interested in missions on this scale.

Any mission that uses reaction wheels for attitude control can potentially benefit from this technology. It offers three axis control for mass and power comparable to a single axis wheel, with greatly reduced jitter, and at low cost. For the Cubesat-scale version we intend to develop initially, we are targeting "proof of concept" missions and astronomy missions that need precision pointing but do not need large optics or detectors.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 4) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.