Large-angle attitude control of a spinning space body

The large-angle generalization of a suboptimal control scheme for the attitude control of a rigid space vehicle spinning about an axis of symmetry is the objective of this paper. Body-fixed reaction jets with fixed impulse are used for control. The scheme is also applicable to dual-spin vehicles. Comparison with the fuel-optimal two-impulse control scheme, requiring jets with variable impulse, shows that this scheme, except for small angles, requires in general more fuel than the suboptimal scheme described. A detailed mechanization of the control law is presented.