First Ever Flight Demonstration of Zero Propellant Maneuver(TM) Attitute Control Concept

Abstract

[Abstract] This paper presents the results for the first ever flight demonstration of the Zero Propellant Maneuver (ZPM) TM attitude control concept. On November 5, 2006, the ZPM was used to reorient the International Space Station by 90 degrees without using any propellant. By maneuvering along a pre-planned trajectory which was optimized to take advantage of naturally occurring environmental torques, the Space Station CMGs were maintained within operational limits. The trajectory was obtained from a PseudoSpectral solution to a new optimal attitude control problem. With the flight test, the breakthrough capability to simultaneously perform a large angle attitude maneuver and momentum desaturation without the need to use thrusters was established. The flight implementation did not require any modifications to flight software. This approach is applicable to any spacecraft that are controlled by momentum storage devices.