Dynamic Problem of Optimal Control of Spacecraft Attitude under Restriction on Phase Variables

An analytical solution to the optimal control problem of spacecraft reorientation from an arbitrary initial angular position into a required final angular position under the restrictions on control functions and phase variables is presented (the controlling moment and angular velocity are restricted). Time of slew maneuver is minimized. The specific case was considered when maximum admissible kinetic energy of rotation is significant restriction. Constructing the optimal control of reorientation is based on Pontryagin’s maximum principle and the quaternionic variables and models. It is shown that optimal mode is piecewise-continuous control when a direction of spacecraft’s angular momentum is constant relative to the inertial coordinate system during rotation of a spacecraft; for a per forming an optimal turn, the moment of forces is parallel to a straight line fixed in inertial space. Two types of optimal control are possible depending on the given initial and final positions and spacecraft’s moments of inertia — relay control with one switching point when the controlling moment is maximal over the entire time interval of control (segments of acceleration and braking), and relay control with two switching point consisting of intensive acceleration, motion by inertia with the absented moment and an exit onto restriction of rotation energy, and then final braking with the maximum controlling moment. The analytical equations and relations for a finding the optimal control program are written down. The calculation formulas for determining the time characteristics of maneuver and computing a duration of acceleration and braking are given. The proposed algorithm of control provides maximally fast implementation of spacecraft reorientation under the limited kinetic energy of rotation. For an axially symmetric solid body (spacecraft), the optimal control problem, in dynamical statement, was solved completely — we obtained the dependences as explicit functions of time for the control variables, and relations for calculating the key parameters of the law of control are derived. The numerical example and results of mathematical simulation of spacecraft motion under the optimal control are presented, demonstrating the practical feasibility of the developed method for control of spacecraft attitude.

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