US 11,958,636 B2
Dynamically adjusted alignment between payload and spacecraft
Matthew Parman, Mountain View, CA (US); Joel Sercel, Lake View Terrace, CA (US); Mikhail Kokorich, Los Altos Hills, CA (US); James Small, Sonoita, AZ (US); Nicholas Simon, San Jose, CA (US); Nathan Orr, San Jose, CA (US); Samuel Avery, San Jose, CA (US); and Scott Stanley, Northridge, CA (US)
Assigned to MOMENTUS SPACE LLC, San Jose, CA (US)
Filed by MOMENTUS SPACE LLC, San Jose, CA (US)
Filed on May 3, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/735,357.
Application 17/735,357 is a continuation of application No. 16/773,920, filed on Jan. 27, 2020, granted, now 11,352,150.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/956,153, filed on Dec. 31, 2019.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/817,047, filed on Mar. 12, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0258885 A1, Aug. 18, 2022
Int. Cl. B64G 1/40 (2006.01); B64G 1/24 (2006.01); B64G 1/54 (2006.01); B64G 1/64 (2006.01)
CPC B64G 1/402 (2013.01) [B64G 1/24 (2013.01); B64G 1/244 (2019.05); B64G 1/546 (2013.01); B64G 1/641 (2013.01); B64G 1/401 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of facilitating flight operations, the method comprising:
coupling a payload to a spacecraft via a payload interface;
performing thrusting events;
measuring pitch and yaw of the coupled payload and spacecraft; and
dynamically adjusting the relative alignment of the payload and the spacecraft while the payload remains coupled to the spacecraft, wherein dynamically adjusting the relative alignment of the payload and the spacecraft includes dynamically adjusting the relative alignment during the thrusting events to control the pitch and yaw based at least on the measured pitch and yaw.