Time-Optimal Magnetic Attitude Detumbling

What is it about?

The problem of minimum-time spacecraft attitude detumbling using magnetic rods is revisited in this paper within the context of optimal control theory. Two formulations are presented; the first one assumes the availability of the angular velocity measurements for feedback. The second formulation assumes the availability of only the ambient magnetic field measurements in the feedback. In both formulations, the constraint in this optimal control problem is a limit on the maximum magnetic dipole moment of the magnetic rods. The second formulation is shown to yield a new variant of the B-dot law. The Monte Carlo simulation results presented in this paper confirm that the two controls found in both formulations outperform most existing algorithms. In addition, the results show lower power consumption by the magnetic rods when using the proposed variant of the B-dot law, compared to existing B-dot laws.

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