Attitude Dynamics Fundamentals

Abstract

AbstractThe rotational motion of a rigid body or system of rigid bodies is a fundamental field for the study of spacecraft pointing problems. This chapter presents the fundamental aspects of describing the orientation, angular momentum, energy and differential equations of motion of a rigid body. After discussing the rigid body kinematics, the inertia properties of a body about arbitrary reference points are developed. The angular momentum and energy of a rigid body are critical to discussing the equations of motion, as well as investigating the stability of torque‐free spin solutions. Next, passive methods of attitude stabilization are discussed. Here the spacecraft angular momentum, or external torques such as the gravity gradient torque, are used to stabilize the orientation. These fundamental kinematics and kinetics properties form the foundation for follow‐on chapters discussing more complex pointing scenarios including systems with multiple rigid bodies (reaction wheels, etc.), attitude estimation, as well active attitude pointing problems.