Design and simulation of attitude control/momentum management system of space station using control moment gyroscopes

Control Moment Gyroscopes (CMGs) are often assumed to have ideal steering performance when they are used as actuators in the attitude control system of space station. However, the expected torque can not be produced due to the singularity, which can be encountered when several CMGs work coordinately. Therefore, simulation analysis was made concerning the steering performance of CMGs and their effects after a linear quadratic regulator (LQR) were designed for the attitude control and momentum management system. Simulation results indicate that CMGs have good steering performance and singularities do not appear in the control procedure of the space station with typical disturbances. And also, the LQR control strategy of attitude and momentum can regulate the CMG momentum continuously to minimize the accumulating momentum and establish the tradeoff between the station pointing and the CMG momentum management.