Design and Comparison of Attitude Control Modes for ESTCube-2

Abstract

This thesis presents the attitude control problem of ESTCube-2. ESTCube-2 is a 3U CubeSat with a size of 10 x 10 x 30 cm and a weight of about 4 kg. It is the second satellite to be developed by the ESTCube Team and will be equipped with the E-Sail payload for the plasma break experiment, Earth observation camera, a high speed communication system, and a cold gas propulsion module. The satellite will make use of 3 electromagnetic coils, 3 reaction wheels and the cold gas thruster as actuators. The primary purpose of this work was to develop and compare control laws to ful ll the attitude control requirements of the ESTCube-2 mission. To achieve this, the spacecraft dynamics and environmental models are derived and analyzed. PD like controllers and LQR optimal controls are designed to ful ll the pointing requirements of the satellite in addition to the B-dot detumbling control law. Angular rate control law to spin up the satellite for tether deployment is also derived and presented. Simulations of the di erent controllers shows the performance with disturbances also added to the system. Finally recommendations and optimal control situations are presented based on the results.