Pilotage non linéaire en temps minimum d'un engin spatial propulsé

Spacecraft missions may call upon great amplitude changes of attitude within a minimum of time. With a view to define an absolute performance criterion for the spacecraft and, if need be, to guide the research towards the definition of piloting algorithms, it is necessary to determine the open loop optimal control. A numerical method, based on the Pontryagin Maximum Principle, has been defined to carry out this study. It has been applied to the non linear problem of the three-dimensional piloting of a rigid powered spacecraft in atmosphere-free vacuum.