On optimal aerodynamic attitude control of spacecraft

Pande, K. C.; Venkatachalam, R.

doi:10.1016/0094-5765(79)90127-9

“…Successful application of aerodynamic forces for pitch control of COSMOS-149 was reported by Sarychev [Sarychev 1968]. An optimal aerodynamic stabilization of near-Earth satellites was investigated by Pande and Venkatachalam [Pande & Venkatachalam 1979].…”

Section: Attitude Control Using Aerodynamic Dragmentioning

confidence: 99%

Control of satellites using environmental forces : aerodynamic drag / solar radiation pressure

Varma¹

2021

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The dynamics of a satellite involves orbit and attitude motion. Both orbit and attitude motion are required to be controlled for achieving any mission objectives. This thesis examines both of these motion with a focus on formation flying and attitude stabilization using aerodynamic drag or solar radiation pressure. The concept of satellite formation flying involves the distribution of the functionality of a single satellite among several smaller, cooperative satellites. Autonomous multiple satellite formation flying space missions offer many promising possibilities for space exploration. A large quantity of fuel is typically required onboard any conventional satellite to carry out its attitude and orbital positioning, and satellite formation flying has a higher fuel requirement. As on-board fuel is a scarce commodity, it is important to have control methods requiring little or no fuel. Keeping this in mind, this thesis presents the results of using aerodynamic drag or solar radiation pressure for satellite formation flying. This methodology has potential to have significant commercial advantage as it pertains to almost negligible fuel requirements. A leader/follower formation architecture is considered for the formation flying system. The control algorithms are derived based on adaptive sliding mode control technique. Aerodynamic drag is used to accomplish multiple satellite formation flying in low Earth orbit whereas solar radiation pressure is used in geostationary orbit. Due to the nature of the aerodynamic drag, in-plane control can only be accomplished by the suitable maneuvering of the drag plates mounted on the satellites. Solar radiation pressure is able to accomplish in-plane and out-of-plane control by maneuvering of the solar flaps. Efficacy of the control methodology in performing various scenarios of formation flying including formation reconfiguration is validated by numerical simulation in both the cases. The numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control techniques for satellite formation flying using aerodynamic drag or solar radiation pressure. Formation flying accuracies of less than 5 m are achieved in both the cases. Next, this thesis investigates the use of aerodynamic drag or solar radiation pressure for satellite attitude control. In the case of the aerodynamic drag stabilized satellite, the drag plates are considered to be attached to the satellite while the solar flaps are fixed to the satellite in the case of the solar radiation pressure stabilized satellite. In both the cases, the control algorithm is developed based on adaptive sliding mode control technique. The effectiveness of this methodology is numerically evaluated under various scenarios including the pressure of failure/fault in the solar flaps or drag plates attached to the satellite. The satellite attitude is stabilized within reasonable limits in all the cases thereby demonstrating robust performance in the presence of external disturbances.

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“…This chapter looks to expand upon the previous efforts on the use of aerodynamic drag for passive satellite attitude control. Existing literature proposes the combined use of aerodynamic and magnetic torquing [Psiaki 2004], control of the two of principal axes using torque due to aerodynamic drag [Pande & Venkatachalam 1979], [Modi & Shrivastava 1973], or using an additional yaw stabilizer along with the drag plates [Chen et al 2000] for achieving three axis satellite attitude control. The proposed system comprises of a satellite with two pairs of oppositely placed drag plates, and the satellite attitude is controlled by the suitable rotation of these drag plates.…”

Section: Chaptermentioning

confidence: 99%

Control of satellites using environmental forces : aerodynamic drag / solar radiation pressure

Varma¹

2021

Preprint

0

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The dynamics of a satellite involves orbit and attitude motion. Both orbit and attitude motion are required to be controlled for achieving any mission objectives. This thesis examines both of these motion with a focus on formation flying and attitude stabilization using aerodynamic drag or solar radiation pressure. The concept of satellite formation flying involves the distribution of the functionality of a single satellite among several smaller, cooperative satellites. Autonomous multiple satellite formation flying space missions offer many promising possibilities for space exploration. A large quantity of fuel is typically required onboard any conventional satellite to carry out its attitude and orbital positioning, and satellite formation flying has a higher fuel requirement. As on-board fuel is a scarce commodity, it is important to have control methods requiring little or no fuel. Keeping this in mind, this thesis presents the results of using aerodynamic drag or solar radiation pressure for satellite formation flying. This methodology has potential to have significant commercial advantage as it pertains to almost negligible fuel requirements. A leader/follower formation architecture is considered for the formation flying system. The control algorithms are derived based on adaptive sliding mode control technique. Aerodynamic drag is used to accomplish multiple satellite formation flying in low Earth orbit whereas solar radiation pressure is used in geostationary orbit. Due to the nature of the aerodynamic drag, in-plane control can only be accomplished by the suitable maneuvering of the drag plates mounted on the satellites. Solar radiation pressure is able to accomplish in-plane and out-of-plane control by maneuvering of the solar flaps. Efficacy of the control methodology in performing various scenarios of formation flying including formation reconfiguration is validated by numerical simulation in both the cases. The numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control techniques for satellite formation flying using aerodynamic drag or solar radiation pressure. Formation flying accuracies of less than 5 m are achieved in both the cases. Next, this thesis investigates the use of aerodynamic drag or solar radiation pressure for satellite attitude control. In the case of the aerodynamic drag stabilized satellite, the drag plates are considered to be attached to the satellite while the solar flaps are fixed to the satellite in the case of the solar radiation pressure stabilized satellite. In both the cases, the control algorithm is developed based on adaptive sliding mode control technique. The effectiveness of this methodology is numerically evaluated under various scenarios including the pressure of failure/fault in the solar flaps or drag plates attached to the satellite. The satellite attitude is stabilized within reasonable limits in all the cases thereby demonstrating robust performance in the presence of external disturbances.

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“…The greatest challenge, when implementing active aerodynamic attitude control, is addressing the uncertainties that characterise the problem formulation. The majority of studies propose to achieve aerodynamic attitude control by selecting the angles of rotation of allocated aerodynamic control actuators [4,[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. A simple and quick way of estimating the control torque is obtained by assuming small attitudes with regards to the incoming flow and limited ranges of deflection of the panels so that approximate linear laws can be used [4,[9][10][11][12]16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncertainties and Design of Active Aerodynamic Attitude Control in Very Low Earth Orbit

Livadiotti,

Crisp,

Roberts

et al. 2022

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This paper discusses the design and the performance achievable with active aerodynamic attitude control in very low Earth orbit, i.e. below 450 km in altitude. A novel real-time algorithm is proposed for selecting the angles of deflection of aerodynamic actuators providing the closest match to the control signal computed by a selected control law. The algorithm is based on a panel method for the computation of the aerodynamic coefficients and relies on approximate environmental parameters estimation and worst-case scenario assumptions for the re-emission properties of space materials. Discussion of results is performed by assuming two representative pointing manoeuvres, for which momentum wheels and aerodynamic actuators are used synergistically. A quaternion feedback PID controller implemented in discrete time is assumed to determine the control signal at a sampling frequency of 1 Hz. The outcome of a Monte Carlo analysis, performed for a wide range of orbital conditions, shows that the target attitude is successfully achieved for the vast majority of the cases, thus proving the robustness of the approach in the presence of environmental uncertainties and realistic attitude hardware limitations. Nomenclature 𝒂 𝑨 = aerodynamic acceleration vector

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On optimal aerodynamic attitude control of spacecraft

Cited by 17 publications

References 3 publications

Control of satellites using environmental forces : aerodynamic drag / solar radiation pressure

Control of satellites using environmental forces : aerodynamic drag / solar radiation pressure

Control of satellites using environmental forces : aerodynamic drag / solar radiation pressure

Uncertainties and Design of Active Aerodynamic Attitude Control in Very Low Earth Orbit

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