AbstractThe paper presents design of a near optimal orbit and attitude control system for a very large flexible rectangular flat plate-like spacecraft in geostationary orbit, with its normal kept in the orbital plane in an inertial orientation. First, assuming the plate to be rigid, an optimal control system is designed. Two control systems are needed: one to balance the gravity gradient torque and the other to control the plate's orbit and attitude against disturbances. The interaction of the structural dynamics with the control system is investigated next. It is shown that the structural dynamics destabilizes the control system. The control design is modified to reduce the interactions, by including just a couple of flexural modes into the control logic and by optimally locating the thrusters a little away from the corners. The control structure interaction which is measured by the residual flexural energy after an orbit or attitude correction, is shown to be reduced by several orders of magnitude by the simple modifications. An approach to find an optimal location of actuators and a concept of “associated modes” are also proposed to help the designer evolve a very simple coupled orbit and attitude controllers with minimum control/structure interactions for very large flexible space systems of the future. This configuration considered represents the proposed solar power satellite, solar reflectors, communication platforms, etc.
Orbit and attitude control of a geostationary inertially oriented large flexible plate-like spacecraft
Acta Astronautica ; 15 , 11 ; 823-832
1987-01-26
10 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
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