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Fundamentals of Spacecraft Attitude Determination and Control pp 287–343Cite as

Attitude Control

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Part of the book series: Space Technology Library ((SPTL,volume 33))

Abstract

Spacecraft attitude control is essential to meet mission pointing requirements, such as required science modes and thruster pointing requirements for orbital maneuvers. Early spacecraft mission designs used passive spin stabilization to hold one axis relatively fixed by spinning the spacecraft around that axis, usually the axis of maximum moment of inertia. Spin stabilization was mostly used due to the limited control actuation and lack of sophisticated computer technology to implement complex control laws. Spin-stabilized spacecraft are very stable, but they have to be sensitively balanced; every component has to be designed and located with spacecraft balance in mind. This can be extremely difficult to accomplish to the required accuracy. In most cases the last few weights are added and adjusted only after actual flight hardware is delivered and installed, and the spacecraft is experimentally spin tested. Allowances must also be made for everything onboard that can move during flight.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See Sect. 11.1.

  2. 2.

    This has no relation to the orbit plane because SAMPEX is not Earth-pointing.

  3. 3.

    This is equal to 0.6 ft-lb-s and has been erroneously given as 0.6 Nms in the literature.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Attitude Control Systems Engineering Branch, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MA, USA

    F. Landis Markley

  2. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University at Buffalo State University of New York, Amherst, NY, USA

    John L. Crassidis

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Markley, F.L., Crassidis, J.L. (2014). Attitude Control. In: Fundamentals of Spacecraft Attitude Determination and Control. Space Technology Library, vol 33. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0802-8_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0802-8_7

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