Spacecraft Attitude Control

Spacecraft attitude control has a variety of requirements, which are mainly for attitude stabilization control and attitude maneuver control. Attitude stabilization control keeps the attitude of a spacecraft along a reference frame by overcoming the influence of the internal and external disturbance torque. Attitude maneuver control refers to the process of changing a spacecraft’s attitude from unknown to known or from one attitude to another; it may also refer to the tracking of the desired attitude. In addition to the attitude control of the spacecraft body, certain subsystems of the spacecraft must be controlled to complete a space mission, necessitating unified attitude control or the hierarchical control of the spacecraft.