Attitude and Momentum Management of Inertial Oriented Spacecraft

Abstract

AbstractSpacecraft attitude and momentum management aims to slow down the accumulation of control momentum gyro (CMG) momentum through active attitude adjustments. This paper is a systematical discussion of the momentum management problem in the inertial space. The paper can be mainly divided into two parts, as follows: (1) dynamical/constraints analyses, and (2) optimal controller design. In the analysis part, the stable momentum equilibrium attitudes and the constraints for successful momentum management are presented. The analyses show that inertial oriented spacecraft with momentum management consideration is required to keep one of its principal axes of inertia perpendicular to the orbital plane. Due to the uncertainty of the inertia property, the requirement of absolute perpendicularity is difficult to obtain. To solve this problem, the second part of the paper presents an optimal momentum management controller, in which CMG momentum is feedback controlled to avoid momentum accumulation. Theoretical...