Simulation of spacecraft damage tolerance and adaptive controls

The nature of adaptive controls, or controls for unpredictable systems, lends itself naturally to the concept of damage tolerant controls in high performing systems, such as aircraft and spacecraft. Recent technical demonstrations of damage tolerant aircraft prove the concept of adaptive controls in an operational environment. Research covered by this paper expands on the topic by discussing the application of adaptive controls to spacecraft and theory behind simulating damage tolerant control implementation. Simulation is then used to demonstrate the stability of adaptive controls when experiencing sudden mass loss and rapid changes in inertia.