Review:A Survey of Single Gimbal Control Moment Gyroscope for Agile Spacecraft Attitude Control

Agile attitude maneuver is a basic requirement for next generation imaging spacecraft and Control Moment Gyroscope (CMG) is an effective candidate for large space station and agile spacecraft attitude control because of its torque amplification capability. This paper provides a thorough survey of Single Gimbal Control Moment Gyroscope (SGCMG) in terms of configuration,evaluation,modeling,singularity analysis and steering logic,etc. For specific space missions,CMGs are logically mounted into different particular arrays which can be chosen by the proposed evaluation methods. From the dynamic model we find a tough inverse mapping problem which suffers the inherent geometric singularity. Different techniques and theories then are applied for singularity analysis and CMG steering logics design. The pyramid CMG cluster and singular robust logics are proven to be able to enhance the agility of spacecraft. Above work forms a systematic framework of SGCMG for agile spacecraft control with lots of illustrative examples,tables and figures,and will evoke further investigation for future missions.