Recent advances in precision measurement & pointing control of spacecraft

Abstract There exists an increasing need for precision measurement & pointing control and extreme motion stability for current and future space systems, e.g., Ultra-Performance Spacecraft (UPS). Some notable technologies of realizing Ultra-Pointing (UP) ability have been developed particularly for Ultra-accuracy Ultra-stability Ultra-agility (3U) spacecraft over recent decades. Usually, Multilevel Compound Pointing Control Techniques (MCPCTs) are deployed in aerospace engineering, especially in astronomical observation satellites and Earth observation satellites. Modern controllers and/or algorithms, which are a key factor of MCPCTs for 3U spacecraft, especially the jitter phenomena that commonly exist in a UPS Pointing Control System (PCS), have also been effectively used in some UP spacecraft for a number of years. Micro-vibration suppression approaches, however, are often proposed to deal with low-level mechanical vibration or disturbance in the microgravity environment that is common for UPS. This latter approach potentially is one of the most practical UP techniques for 3U tasks. Some emerging advanced Disturbance-Free Payload (DFP) satellites that exploit the benefits of non-contact actuators have also been reported in the literature. This represents an interesting and highly promising approach for solving some challenging problems in the area. This paper serves as a state-of-the-art review of UP technologies and/or methods which have been developed, mainly over the last decade, specifically for or potentially could be used for 3U spacecraft pointing control. The problems discussed in this paper are of reference significance to UPS and millisecond optical sensors, which are involved in Gaofeng Project, deep space exploration, manned space flight, and gravitational wave detection.