Optimal control of a programmed motion of a rigid spacecraft using redundant kinematics parameterizations

This paper considers the problem of optimal controlling of a programmed motion of a rigid spacecraft. Given a cost of the spacecraft as a quadratic function of state and control variables we seek for optimal control laws as functions of the state variables and the angle of programmed rotation that minimize this cost and asymptotically stabilize the required programmed motion. The stabilizing properties of the proposed controllers are proved using the optimal Liapunov techniques. Numerical simulation study is presented. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.