Time efficient spacecraft maneuver using constrained torque distribution

Abstract This paper investigates the time efficient maneuver of rigid satellites with inertia uncertainty and bounded external disturbance. A redundant cluster of four reaction wheels is used to control the spacecraft. To make full use of the controllability and avoid frequent unload for reaction wheels, a maximum output torque and maximum angular momentum constrained torque distribution method is developed. Based on this distribution approach, the maximum allowable acceleration and velocity of the satellite are optimized during the maneuvering. A novel braking curve is designed on the basis of the optimization strategy of the control torque distribution. A quaternion-based sliding mode control law is proposed to render the state to track the braking curve strictly. The designed controller provides smooth control torque, time efficiency and high control precision. Finally, practical numerical examples are illustrated to show the effectiveness of the developed torque distribution strategy and control methodology.