Experimental Verification of Attitude Control System for Agile Spacecraft

This paper addresses the design and verification of an attitude control system for an agile satellite using experimental data. Typical agile satellites are equipped with control momentum gyros, which allow for the generation of high internal reaction torques and hence attitude maneuvers with high angular rates. The architecture of the attitude control system with design implications is presented and discussed. In order to mitigate the risks associated with design and verification of the highly demanding agile attitude control, experimental results involving a hardware in-the-loop demonstrator are presented. The overall design process and closed loop performance evaluation allows an increasing technology readiness level for target missions.