Modeling and control of a flexible spacecraft for large-angle rapid maneuvers

This paper deals with large-angle rapid slew maneuvers of a flexible spacecraft, which consists of a rigid central body and a flexible beam attached to it. Dynamic model for the spacecraft described by a coupled nonlinear hybrid system is derived. With the control torque applied to the rigid central body only, a PD control law is presented using the measurements of the attitude angle of the rigid body and its velocity. Based upon the Lyapunov method in infinite dimensional space, it is shown that implementation of the control algorithm results in the slew maneuvering with the simultaneous vibration suppression,Copyright (C) 1998 IFAC.