Automatic positioning system for science hardware in Uragan experiment on the ISS

When studying ground and astronomical objects using the Salyut and Mir orbital stations a required station attitude was established to the objects under observation. For the ISS having large dimensions and mass the gyrodynes installed on the US On-orbit Segment have no available kinematic momentum sufficient to point the station to the objects under observation. It is evident that in such ISS attitude it is impossible to position rigidly fixed instruments to objects under observation. Therefore, when conducting scientific experiments on the ISS mobile pointing platforms (PP) shall be used. Using several PP also allows for simultaneous observation of different objects. Since the beginning of the ISS flight hand-held observation devices have been used in the Earth exploration experiment «Uragan», and the crew points the photographic, photo- and video-spectrometers to the objects under observation through the windows. However, strong constraints are placed on the planning of such experiments, primarily related to a need for accounting for the crew schedule and availability of the time allocated for scientific experiments...