Space Studies Tuesday: Control Systems, cont

Lesson link here:  http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/basics/bsf11-2.php

This lesson looks at systems that control the spacecraft's position in space, and it's ability to communicate with earth.  I think the thing to take away from this is that it takes constant work to keep the spacecraft properly oriented.  If you're like me and have a hard time visualizing how some of these systems work, I'm found a couple of videos:

Simple attiude control demonstrated here:

Here's an interesting one demonstrating gyroscope control. 

For the communications, the thing to remember is high gain=more power, more focus; low gain=low power, wider focus.