Slew Maneuver of a Flexible Spacecraft Using On-off Thrusters

A closed loop switching function for single-axis slew maneuvers of spacecraft using on-off thrusters is investigated by analytical simulations and experimental demonstrations. The proposed switching function provides flexibility of controlling multiple firing and pointing errors in the presence of modelling errors and structural flexibility. The proposed switching functions for three-axis maneuver of a rigid body are also investigated by analytical simulations. The analytical and experimental results show that the proposed switching function can result in significant improvement of the slew maneuver performance.