Attitude Control and Vibration Suppression of Flexible Spacecraft Based on Quintic Polynomial Path Planning

With the development of aerospace mission, more and more satellites adopt large scale flexible structures. However, rigid body motion of flexible spacecraft is strongly coupled with elastic vibration of flexible structure, which may lead to oscillation and overshoot of satellite attitude, and even instability. In order to meet the requirement of rapid maneuver capability of agile satellites, a novel trajectory planning scheme is proposed in this study based on quintic polynomial transition. The continuous and smooth maneuver path is planned to solve the conflict between swiftness and overshoot in traditional path planning as well as to suppress the vibration of flexible appendages. In addition, a hybrid steering law is adopted to avoid the singularity problem and provide precise torque output simultaneously using a Variable Speed Control Moment Gyroscope (VSCMGs) cluster. Moreover, based on Simulink, a simulation platform is designed, which is served as the test bed for trajectory planning and steering law designing of flexible satellites, providing good extensibility. Overall, the numerical simulation results, based on the well-established platform, clearly establish that the proposed trajectory planning scheme is significantly superior to the existing methods. It is illustrated sufficiently that the established platform is helpful for trajectory planning and VSCMG steering law designing of VSCMG-actuated flexible satellite.