This paper proposes two kinds of approaches of angular rate sensing for micro-spacecraft with a gyrowheel (GW), which can combine attitude sensing with attitude control into one single device to achieve a compact micro-spacecraft design. In this implementation, during the three-dimensional attitude control torques being produced, two-dimensional spacecraft angular rates can be sensed from the s...

This paper presents an anlysis based on the momentum conservation equations of a redundant free-flying spacecraft/manipulator system, acting in zero-gravity environment. In order to follow a predefined end-effector path, the inverse kinematics at velocity level is considered. The redundancy i solved alternatively in terms of pseudoinverses and null-space components of the manipulator inertia ma...

A novel split field of view star tracker is being developed for the EO-3 GIFTS mission (2004). The camera is designed to be autonomously self-calibrating, and capable of a rapid/reliable solution of the lost-in-space problem as well as recursive attitude estimation. Two efficient Kalman filter algorithms for attitude, camera principal point offset, and focal length estimation are developed. The...

This paper addresses attitude coordination control for spacecraft formation with multiple delays. A distributed angular velocity input law is firstly constructed for attitude synchronization and tracking under multiple communication delays. Introducing virtual auxiliary systems makes it possible to integrate the angular velocity input law with the true true control torque, and asymptotic stabil...

Momentum exchange devices such as reaction wheels and control moment gyroscopes (CMGs) form an important class of torque actuators for spacecraft attitude control. A single gimbal CMG comprises of a rapidly spinning rotor mounted on a gimbal. The orientation of the rotor can be changed by applying torque to the gimbal, and the reaction torque thus generated serves to control the spacecraft atti...

Variable speed control moment gyros (VSCMGs) distinguish themselves from the conventional CMGs by having extra degrees of freedom to control the wheel spin in addition to the gimbal angles. Thus, they can be adopted to achieve additional objectives, such as energy storage, as well as attitude control. VSCMGs are ideal for integrated power and attitude control systems (IPACS). The gimbal rates o...