Sensor
Define satellite sensors with conical or rectangular fields of view, mount them on body faces, and use them in access analysis against ground stations, AOIs, and celestial bodies.
A sensor defines a field of view on your satellite. Sensors are used in access analysis to determine when a target — a ground station, an area of interest, or a celestial body — falls within the sensor’s footprint.
Adding a sensor
- In the Scenario tab, find the satellite in the satellite list.
- Open the satellite’s more options menu (
...). - Select Add New Sensor.
This opens the Sensor Settings modal. To edit an existing sensor, expand the satellite in the list and click the sensor’s name.
Sensor settings
| Field | Description | Range / Options |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Free text | Defaults to “New Sensor” (auto-numbered) |
| Type | Sensor geometry | Conical or Rectangular |
| Color | Display color in 3D views | Color picker |
| Body Face | Which bus face the sensor is mounted on | X+, X-, Y+, Y-, Z+, Z- (labeled Nadir, Zenith, Ram, Anti-Ram, Right, Left based on the satellite’s attitude faces) |
| Aperture | Field of view angles | Conical: single Full Angle (0–180°). Rectangular: separate Cross-Track and Along-Track angles (0–180° each). |
| Yaw | Rotation around body Z | -180° to 180° |
| Pitch | Rotation around body Y | -90° to 90° |
| Roll | Rotation around body X | -180° to 180° |
Rotations are extrinsic and applied in Yaw → Pitch → Roll order using the body axes.
Default values
| Field | Default |
|---|---|
| Body Face | Z+ |
| Type | Conical |
| Full Angle | 60° |
| Yaw / Pitch / Roll | 0° |
| Color | #ff6600 |
Sensor types
Conical
A cone-shaped field of view defined by a single full angle. The sensor “sees” everything within that cone from the boresight axis. Simple and common for cameras and narrow-beam instruments.
Rectangular
A rectangular (pyramidal) field of view with independent cross-track and along-track angles. Useful for push-broom imagers or sensors with asymmetric apertures.
Visualizing sensors
Sensors are rendered in two places:
- Model tab — the 3D CubeSat viewer shows each visible sensor as a translucent cone or rectangular pyramid on its mounted face. Use the show/hide toggle in the Model sidebar to control visibility.
- Scenario globe — the 3D globe view shows the sensor footprint projected on the ground during access analysis.
Using sensors in access analysis
Sensors are used as Object 1 in the access computation form. Set Object 1 Type to Sensor, then select a sensor from the list (labeled as satellite name — sensor name).
Available targets (Object 2)
| Target | Availability |
|---|---|
| Ground Station | Always. Earth satellites see Earth stations; Moon satellites see all stations. |
| Area of Interest (AOI) | Earth sensors only. Moon satellites cannot compute access to Earth AOIs. |
| Satellite | Always. |
| Sun | When Object 1 is a sensor. |
| Moon | When Object 1 is an Earth sensor. |
| Earth | When Object 1 is a Moon sensor. |
When targeting an AOI, you can enable illumination filtering to restrict visibility windows to daylight or nighttime conditions.
What each combination tells you
- Sensor → Ground Station: when the ground station is within the sensor’s field of view.
- Sensor → AOI: when the area of interest is within the sensor’s footprint (with optional illumination constraints).
- Sensor → Sun / Moon / Earth: when the celestial body is within the sensor’s field of view — useful for stray-light or occultation analysis.
Limitations
- The satellite must be propagated before its sensors appear in the access selector.
- Hidden sensors are excluded from access analysis. Toggle visibility from the satellite list (eye icon).
- No duplicate pairs: the same sensor and target combination cannot be added twice.
- Moon satellites cannot target Earth AOIs.
- Deleting a sensor also deletes any access analyses that used it.
- Editing a sensor triggers recomputation of any existing accesses that use it.
- Sensor rotations are limited to: yaw/roll ±180°, pitch ±90°.
Next steps
- Access — use sensors as access sources
- Area of Interest — sensor-to-AOI access with illumination filtering
- Target Pointing — attitude overrides that affect sensor pointing
- Model — visualize sensors on the 3D satellite model