Attitude Control of Spacecraft for Autonomous Attenuation of Unknown Periodic Disturbance Torque

Abstract

Recently, deep space exploration, especially focusing on halo orbits, the periodic orbits of the Moon, has been widely studied. The spacecraft in halo orbits performs periodic orbital motion, which affects the attitude motion by periodic disturbances. The conventional attitude control method, PD control, is widely used, but its application to periodic disturbance attenuation is inefficient. To address these challenges, this study proposes a predictive Repetitive Control (RC) approach that addresses periodic disturbances, particularly GG torque, by exploiting the periodic nature of the system dynamics. The proposed method is also applied to the case of using a Reaction Wheel (RW) as an attitude control actuator. Despite the inherent challenges posed by RW limitations, including saturation torque and transmission delay, our predictive RC approach effectively mitigates these effects. Numerical simulations demonstrate the robust performance of the proposed method in maintaining attitude control for spacecraft traversing halo orbits near the Earth-Moon $L_2$ point, validating its potential for future deep space exploration missions.