A 3-DoF Experimental Test-Bed for Integrated Attitude Dynamics and Control Research

This article presents the details of a newly constructed 3-dof experimental spacecraft simulator facility at the School of Aerospace Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The main component of the facility is a cylindrical platform located on a hemi-spherical air bearing that allows friction-free rotation about three axes. The facility includes a variety of actuators and sensors: gas thrusters, variable-speed controlled momentum gyros (which can operate solely in a reaction wheel (RW) or in a control momentum gyro (CMG) mode), a two-axial sun sensor, a high-precision three-axial rate gyro, a three-axial magnetometer, and a complementary inertial measurement unit. The facility offers a truly integrated attitude control system (IACS) for experimental testing of advanced attitude determination and control algorithms.