On-line gyro-based, mass-property identification for thruster-controlled spacecraft using recursive least squares

Spacecraft control, state estimation, and fault-detection-and-isolation systems are affected by unknown variations in the vehicle mass properties. It is often difficult to accurately measure inertia terms on the ground, and mass properties can change on-orbit as fuel is expended, the configuration changes, or payloads are added or removed. Recursive least squares-based algorithms that use gyro signals to identify the center of mass and inverse inertia matrix are presented. They are applied in simulation to 3 thruster-controlled vehicles: the X-38 and Mini-AERCam under development at NASA-JSC, and the S4, an air-bearing spacecraft simulator at the NASA-Ames Smart Systems Research Lab (SSRL).