Space station attitude control during payload operations

Evaluating the feasibility of planned robotic operations requires an analysis methodology and tools that can quickly assess proposed attitude control strategies. In this paper, an efficient approach to model the attitude dynamics of the Space Station during payload motion is presented. This formulation was then used to develop momentum optimal attitude command trajectories for the Space Station CMG attitude hold controller for use during robotic payload operations. This methodology was applied to a realistic Space Station assembly operation and compared with other alternatives. The results indicate that the optimized attitude command trajectory results in the smallest peak CMG momentum cost.