Robust Fuel- and Time-Optimal Control of Uncertain Flexible Space Structures

The problem of computing open-loop, fuel- and time-optimal control inputs for flexible space structures in the face of modeling uncertainty is investigated. Robustified, fuel- and time-optimal pulse sequences are obtained by solving a constrained optimization problem subject to robustness constraints. It is shown that "bang-off-bang" pulse sequences with a finite number of switchings provide a practical tradeoff among the maneuvering time, fuel consumption, and performance robustness of uncertain flexible spacecraft.