AE 5334: Spacecraft Dynamics and Control

Credits 2.0

Overview of spacecraft orbital and rotational motion. Overview and sizing of actuating devices such as gas jet, electric thrusters, momentum wheels and magnetic torquers. Overview and selection of sensing devices such as sun sensors, magnetometers, GPS, IMUs. Formulation of spacecraft maneuvers as control design problems. Estimation techniques for orbit determination and attitude estimation. Static attitude determination methods. Kalman filtering for attitude estimation. Fundamentals of orbit determination. Attitude control based on Lyapunov methods. Case studies on feedback attitude regulators and algorithms for linear and nonlinear attitude tracking. Design and realization of attitude and orbital control schemes using Matlab®/Simulink®. Prerequisites: Fundamentals of spacecraft orbital motion and attitude dynamics at the undergraduate level. Fluency with the theory of linear dynamical systems and control (AE 5331 or similar) and with Matlab® programming. Students cannot receive credit for this course if they have taken AE 5223 “Space Vehicle Dynamics and Control”.