The research discussed here has, largely, been motivated by the successful attitude control performance of the European Space Agency X-ray astronomy satellite, Exosat. This three-axis stabilised spacecraft utilises an unconventional gas jet control law developed by the author, based on the state-space approach. The short term attitude of this nominally rigid body satellite is maintained to an accuracy of within plus/minus 1 arcsecond (the angle subtended by a 3/4 inch marble at a point about 1 mile distant). It was in the quest for a flexible spacecraft attitude control system offering similar performance, that new concepts in spacecraft attitude control evolved. The research was also stimulated by the need to maintain high pointing accuracy through station-keeping manoeuvres of geosynchronous communications satellites with large, flexible solar panels.
Post-EXOSAT research in spacecraft attitude control
Post-EXOSAT-Forschungen fuer die Lageregelung von Raumfahrzeugen
1987
, 11 Bilder, 18 Quellen
Conference paper
English
Elsevier | 1989
|European X-ray observatory satellite (Exosat)
NTRS | 1983
Tema Archive | 1981
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