Nonlinear adaptive spacecraft attitude control using solar radiation pressure

Spacecraft and interplanetary probes orbiting at high altitudes experience forces due to solar radiation pressure, which can be used for maneuvering. The question of large angle pitch attitude maneuvers of satellites using solar radiation torque is considered. For pitch axis maneuver, two highly reflective control surfaces are used to generate radiation moment. The solar radiation moment is a complex nonlinear function of the attitude and parameters of the satellite, the orbital parameters, and the deflection angles of the reflective control surfaces. It is assumed that the parameters of the satellite model are unknown. Based on a backstepping design technique, a nonlinear adaptive control law is derived for the control of the pitch angle. In the closed-loop system, the pitch angle asymptotically tracks prescribed reference trajectories. Simulation results are presented to show that the adaptive control system accomplishes attitude control of the satellite in spite of the parameter uncertainties in the system.     

Semipassive Pitch Attitude Control of Satellites by Solar Radiation Pressure

Pitch attitude control of earth-pointing satellites by solar radiation pressure is investigated. Development of a controller that is simple to implement and yet promises asymptotic stability of the system is presented. The analysis establishes the capability of the solar controller in stabilizing even the gravitationally unstable equilibrium orientation. The semipassive nature of the system promises an increased operational lifetime for the satellite.     

Feedback linearization and solar pressure satellite attitudecontrol

The question of large angle pitch attitude maneuver of satellites using solar radiation pressure is considered. For pitch axis maneuver, two highly reflective control surfaces are used to generate radiation moment. Based on dynamic feedback linearization, a nonlinear control law is derived for large pitch attitude control. In the closed-loop system, the response characteristics of the pitch angle are governed by a fourth-order linear differential equation. Robustness of control system is obtained by the integral error feedback. Simulation results are presented to show that in the closed-loop system, attitude control of the satellite is accomplished in spite of the parameter uncertainty in the system     

Spacecraft design considerations for small satellite remote sensing

The idea of adapting existing small satellite technology for remote sensing purposes is discussed. The major design problems and constraints influencing the design of a small low-cost remote sensing satellite bus are identified using the subsystem approach. Key design areas include the improvement of battery technology and the development of a deployable solar array, attitude control assemblies, on-board data processing/storage, and ground station data acquisition. Although the eventual satellite would also have to be somewhat larger, more powerful and, above all, more sophisticated than the previous small satellites, this is considered to be a natural progression of research in this area     

Cubesat solar sail 3-axis stabilization using panel translation and magnetic torquing

A Cubesat mission with a deployable solar sail of 5 meter by 5 meter in a sun-synchronous low earth orbit is analyzed to demonstrate solar sailing using active attitude stabilization of the sail panel. The sail panel is kept parallel to the orbital plane to minimize aerodynamic drag and optimize the orbit inclination change caused by the solar pressure force normal to the sail surface. A practical control system is proposed, using a combination of small 2-dimensional translation of the sail panel and 3-axis magnetic torquing which is proved to have sufficient control authority over the gravity gradient and aerodynamic disturbance torques. Miniaturized CMOS cameras are used as sun and nadir vector attitude sensors and a robust Kalman filter is used to accurately estimate the inertially referenced body rates from only the sun vector measurements. It is shown through realistic simulation tests that the proposed control system, although inactive during eclipse, will be able to stabilize the sail panel to within ±2° in all attitude angles during the sunlit part of the orbit, when solar sailing is possible.     

地球同步轨道薄膜太阳帆的姿态轨道控制方法

薄膜太阳帆（FSS）是集推进、发电和姿轨控功能于一体化的超大型挠性太阳帆式航天器,通过调整薄膜反射率产生可变推力和力矩,实现其姿态和轨道运动控制。结合薄膜太阳帆在地球同步轨道运行时的受力特性进行了轨道漂移分析。通过建立薄膜太阳帆动力学模型及受力模型,提出了调整帆面角度轨道修正方法以及基于薄膜光压力矩角动量卸载的长期在轨对日定向面内双轴动量轮稳定控制方法。通过系统仿真验证表明所提的轨道修正和对日定向控制方法是合理有效的,可使薄膜太阳帆长期在定点位置维持对日定向。     

Satellite Librational Damping Using a Quasi-Feedback Solar Controller

The feasibility of developing a simple quasi-feedback solar attitude controller is explored. The case of arbitrarily-shaped satellites carrying two pairs of solar surfaces in circular orbits is considered. An approximate analytical approach is used to synthesize the suitable open-loop control relations enabling decay of the satellite librations. The quasi-feedback control scheme suggested here is found to be quite effective in damping the pitch motion. The proposed control approach appears to be particularly attractive as it requires knowledge of the librational angle and velocity only at a fixed satellite position in orbit.     

Near minimum-time feedback attitude control with multiple saturation constraints for agile satellites

Agile satellites are of importance in modern aerospace applications,but high mobility of the satellites may cause them vulnerable to saturation during attitude maneuvers due to limited rating of actuators.This paper proposes a near minimum-time feedback control law for the agile satellite attitude control system.The feedback controller is formed by specially designed cascaded sub-units.The rapid dynamic response of the modified Bang–Bang control logic achieves the near optimal property and ensures the non-saturation properties on three-axis.To improve the dynamic performance,a model reference control strategy is proposed,in which the on-line near optimal attitude maneuver path is generated by the cascade controller and is then tracked by a nonlinear back-stepping controller.Furthermore,the accuracy and the robustness of the control system are achieved by momentum-based on-line inertial identification.The rapid attitude maneuvering can be applied for tasks including the move to move case.Numerical simulations are conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy in terms of the saturation-free property and rapidness.     

Kalman Estimation and Control of Dual-Spin Satellites

lt is necessary to maintain the spin axis of dual-spin geostationary communications satellites with nontracking ground antennas to within 0.1 degree of the orbit normal by periodic attitude corrections. Normally, the data for attitude estimation are determined from the analog sensor waveforms telemetered to the ground station. This information is supplied to the attitude determination program, which processes the data and outputs the right ascension and declination of the spin axis. An application of the extended Kalman/ filter in estimating the attitude of dual-spin geostationary satellites is presented. The precession of the angular momentum vector by the solar radia-tion torque is considered to be the only natural attitude perturbation. The orbital dynamics are considered to be known and are decoupled from the attitude dynamics. A periodic attitude control policy is then derived.     

飞轮被动减振卫星动力学建模及稳定性研究

为提高卫星的指向精度和稳定度,通常在飞轮系统中设计了被动减振器。而对于有敏捷机动要求的卫星,被动减振器的低刚度设计可能会破坏姿态控制系统的动态性能和稳定性。因此,针对飞轮减振情况,建立了卫星刚柔姿态动力学方程,用来准确分析卫星敏捷机动时的动态性能、稳定性问题以及飞轮扰动对卫星稳定度的影响。仿真结果表明,不合适的隔振器刚度设计将会影响指向的动态性能和稳定性,甚至诱发姿控系统失稳。     

基于泵式流体回路的小卫星姿控/热控一体化执行机构设计

 主要研究了小卫星姿控/热控一体化执行机构的设计问题.首先,根据流体回路中液体流速变化对小卫星产生力矩实现姿态控制、液体流动吸/散废热实现热控制的原理,提出一种姿控/热控一体化执行机构设计方案.然后针对该设计方案,利用以电机转速为变量的流体回路内压强和电磁力矩方程,推导了一体化执行机构姿控力矩模型;利用散热量随流体回路流速的变化,建立了一体化执行机构热控模型.最后,针对某小卫星设计了基于姿控/热控一体化执行机构的闭环控制系统,并针对该一体化执行机构设计了一种姿控/热控解耦算法,对其姿控/热控能力进行数学仿真验证,仿真结果证明了该一体化执行机构的有效性.     

空间翻滚非合作目标消旋技术发展综述

大量残存太空的空间垃圾对在轨运行航天器的安全构成严重威胁,对其进行主动移除已迫在眉睫。火箭末级、失效卫星等非合作目标已失去姿态调整能力,且长期在失控状态下运行,受太阳光压、重力梯度等摄动力矩及失效前自身残余角动量等因素的影响往往会出现翻滚运动。对翻滚非合作目标直接捕获存在碰撞风险,为降低风险系数采取消旋后再捕获是较为合适的方式。在对火箭末级、失效卫星等典型非合作目标运动形式及消旋过程进行分析的基础上,综述了目前国内外所提出的接触式及非接触式消旋方法,并对非合作目标翻滚运动测量及动力学参数辨识和消旋控制这两项消旋共性关键技术进行了归纳总结。本综述将为中国空间碎片主动清除技术的发展提供有益参考。     

Structural dynamic responses of a stripped solar sail subjected to solar radiation pressure

The stripped solar sail whose membrane is divided into separate narrow membrane strips is believed to have the best structural efficiency. In this paper, the stripped solar sail structure is regarded as an assembly made by connecting a number of boom-strip components in sequence. Considering the coupling effects between booms and membrane strips, an exact and semi-analytical method to calculate structural dynamic responses of the stripped solar sail subjected to solar radiation pressure is established. The case study of a 100 m stripped solar sail shows that the stripped architecture helps to reduce the static deflections and amplitudes of the steady-state dynamic response. Larger prestress of the membrane strips will decrease stiffness of the sail and increase amplitudes of the steady-state dynamic response. Increasing thickness of the boom will benefit to stability of the sail and reduce the resonant amplitudes. This proposed semi-analytical method provides an efficient analysis tool for structure design and attitude control of the stripped solar sail.     

Novel orbit-attitude combination mode for solar power satellites to reduce mass and fuel

Solar power satellite receives great attention because it can release the energy crisis and environmental problems in the future. However, the launch and maintenance costs are tremendous due to the large system mass and large fuel consumption to counteract space perturbations. To reduce mass and fuel, a novel quasi-Sun-pointing attitude in Sun-frozen orbit is proposed. The Sun-frozen orbit has a nonzero eccentricity vector that always points towards the Sun. The quasi-Sun-pointing attitude is a periodic solution of the Sun-pointing attitude angle. Although about 3 % electricity must be given up because of the variation of Sun-pointing attitude angle, little control action is required to deal with the solar radiation pressure and gravity-gradient torque. The algorithm to obtain initial conditions is proposed. The influences of system parameters and structural flexibilities are studied. Simulation results reveal that the quasi-Sun-pointing attitude in Sun-frozen orbit dramatically reduce fuel consumption, the dry mass, and complexity of the control system. In addition, structural vibration is hardly induced by the gravity-gradient torque. Thus, the bending stiffness as well as the mass of the supporting structure can be reduced.     

卫星姿控发动机喷管羽流撞击效应试验

在高超声速低密度风洞中试验研究了卫星姿控发动机喷管羽流对平板模型的撞击效应,包括气动力和气动热效应。试验气体为加热的氮气。对两个卫星姿态控制发动机喷管的十种实验状态进行了测量。测出了平行于喷管轴线的平板模型上的压力分布和温度变化及处于喷管上方后流区的挡板的温度变化,给出了平板模型上的气动力和气动热分布规律,并判断是否形成后流区。测量结果表明,试验结果可靠,具有工程应用价值,能为姿控发动机在卫星上的布局提供参考。     

Application of GPS to space vehicles: analysis of space environmentand errors

GPS based systems become extremely competitive for space applications because of their all-weather capabilities and continual information on position, velocity, precise time and even attitude to increase mission effectiveness, reduce mission cost, minimize requirements of on-board devices. In this paper, space application environment and error sources have been systematically analyzed, including geometric location of user with GPS satellites, dynamic state, physical environment and the effects on positioning accuracy. Several special differential GPS technologies to space use are proposed     

Solar sail attitude control using shape variation of booms

Active attitude control of solar sails is required to control the direction of the force generated by Solar Radiation Pressure (SRP). It is desirable to control the attitude through propellant-free means. This paper proposes a new method for attitude control of solar sails: A boom consisting of “smart” structural material can be deformed by the piezoelectric actuator, and Solar Radiation Pressure torque will be generated due to shape variation of sail membrane caused by boom deformation. The method has the advantages of simple structure, small disturbance and small additional load, and is not limited by the size of the solar sail. The case of rendezvous with the Asteroid 2000 SG344 is used to verify the attitude control around the pitch and yaw axes.     

中继卫星复合控制系统设计

根据中继卫星系统多体控制的特点，合理地选择了中继卫星复合控制系统方案；然后根据所选择的方案，分别设计了中继卫星星体姿态稳定控制系统和单址天线指向控制系统，详细描述了天线指向控制概念，并且设计了星上自主控制方案；最后以不同的用户星作为跟踪目标，对所设计的复合控制系统进行了数学仿真。通过对仿真结果的分析，验证了该系统的有效性。     

基于变结构控制器的敏捷卫星姿态机动方法

随着遥感卫星观测能力的逐步提升,对卫星敏捷机动能力提出了更高的要求。针对敏捷卫星大角度姿态机动问题,以6个单框架控制力矩陀螺(SGCMG)组成五棱锥构型的姿态控制系统执行机构,在构建敏捷卫星姿态运动数学模型以及设计SGCMG系统操纵律的基础上,对卫星绕Euler轴进行姿态机动的角轨迹进行规划,并设计了一种基于误差四元数与误差角速度的变结构控制器。仿真及在轨验证结果表明,该控制器能够完成规划轨迹的良好跟踪且具有较强的鲁棒性,研究成果对敏捷卫星姿态控制系统的设计具有重要的参考意义。     

中继卫星天线指向控制策略研究

首先根据中继卫星系统中中继卫星跟踪用户星的要求,定义了中继卫星天线坐标系,推导出了中继卫星天线对用户星的跟踪规律,通过该跟踪规律可以推出中继卫星跟踪用户星时天线方位和俯仰轴转角,为了保证中继卫星与用户星之间的通信,中继卫星单址天线需要精确的指向用户星;然后详细描述了天线指向控制概念,并且设计了星上自主控制方案,星上自主控制方案由捕获和自动跟踪模式组成,一方面设计了天线捕获过程,另一方面对自动跟踪模式的天线步进逻辑进行了合理选择;最后根据推导的跟踪规律,以不同轨道的用户星作为跟踪目标,对所设计的天线指向控制系统进行了数学仿真,并且通过对仿真结果的分析验证了中继卫星单址天线指向性能。