Spacecraft Vibration Reduction Following Thruster Firing for Orbit Adjustment

This paper shows how spacecraft vibration reduction can be achieved following the disturbance from thruster firing. In firing thrusters for orbit adjustment, this disturbance can be manipulated. A solution of the zero vibration and sensitivity equations for the dominant, closed -loop control-excited frequency, subject to the thruster pulse requirement, provides a constant magnitude thruster on -off profile. An alternative approach using scaled convolution of the thrust with a three impulse sequence for suppressing a mode of vibration requires stepped thrust. Simulation re sults show the effectiveness and robustness of the approaches.