Skybox Flat Sat Demo

During a private tour of a new satellite under development, they gave me a demo of the control mechanism that allows a spy satellite to tilt to point at a particular target on the ground.

Instead of propulsion systems, small satellites can use Control Moment Gyroscopes — a set of four spinning disks at different angles can orient the bird into any direction, thereby pointing the camera at precise ground targets.

In this demo video, there is one central spinning disk, and by just modifying its rotational speed, the entire system can be made to rotate one way or the other.