Maneuvering control problems for a spacecraft with unactuated fuel slosh dynamics

This paper studies maneuvering control problems for a spacecraft with fuel slosh in a zero gravity environment. The spacecraft is represented as a rigid body and fuel slosh dynamics are included using a single vibrating mass model. Both pendulum and mass-spring analogies are considered. The control inputs are defined by a thrust along the spacecraft´s longitudinal axis, a transverse body fixed force and a pitching moment about the center of mass of the spacecraft. The control objective is to suppress the slosh mode, as well as the transverse and pitch dynamics, while the spacecraft accelerates in axial direction. A nonlinear feedback controller is developed to achieve this objective.