Marcel Margulies

On-orbit performance of the Hubble Space Telescope fine guidance sensors

The observed and measured on-orbit performance of various aspects of the fine guidance sensors is presented and discussed in the light of the original requirements and predictions. The fine guidance sensors are shown to meet or exceed the original requirements concerning dynamic pointing errors, photometric repeatability, and moving-target tracking capability. Calibration accuracy has been sufficient for observations to date, and fine-lock acquisitions are approaching a 100% success rate. Improvements to the fine-guidance-sensor tolerance of telescope spherical aberration, the South Atlantic anomaly, and solar-panel vibrations have been made, and further improvements are expected.