Abstract
The paper discusses the coupled attitude-orbit dynamics and control of an electric-sail-based spacecraft in a heliocentric transfer mission. The mathematical model characterizing the propulsive thrust is first described as a function of the orbital radius and the sail angle. Since the solar wind dynamic pressure acceleration is induced by the sail attitude, the orbital and attitude dynamics of electric sails are coupled, and are discussed together. Based on the coupled equations, the flight control is investigated, wherein the orbital control is studied in an optimal framework via a hybrid optimization method and the attitude controller is designed based on feedback linearization control. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy, a transfer problem from Earth to Mars is considered. The numerical results show that the proposed strategy can control the coupled system very well, and a small control torque can control both the attitude and orbit. The study in this paper will contribute to the theory study and application of electric sail.
Highlights
The electric solar wind sail, electric sail for short, is an innovative propulsion concept
Based on the coupled equations, the flight control is investigated, wherein the orbital control is studied in an optimal framework via a hybrid optimization method and the attitude controller is designed based on feedback linearization control
To track the referenced attitude trajectory, the attitude controller is designed based on feedback linearization control (FBL)
Summary
The electric solar wind sail, electric sail for short, is an innovative propulsion concept. Based on the thrust model, the coupled attitude-orbit dynamics and control is investigated. Based on the basic knowledge of attitude kinematics, the angular velocity of electric sail in the body reference frame can be written as. For the orbital control problem of electric sails, the hybrid genetic algorithm Gauss pseudospectral optimization method is implemented in this paper. The hybrid optimization method is capable of searching the feasible and optimal solution without any initial value guess This feature is ideal for the orbital control problem of electric sails, which is generally without prior knowledge. Compared with the regular Gauss pseudospectral method, the hybrid optimization method does not need any initial guess to search the feasible and optimal solution This feature is very suitable for trajectory optimization problems of electric sail, which are short of priori knowledge. The feedback functions Λ(x) and B(x) are defined as following,
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