Output stabilization of flexible spacecraft with active vibration suppression

Addressed here is the problem of designing a dynamic controller capable of performing rest-to-rest maneuvers for flexible spacecraft, by using attitude measures. This controller does not need the knowledge of modal variables and spacecraft angular velocity. The absence of measurements of these variables is compensated by appropriate dynamics of the controller, which supplies their estimates. The Lyapunov technique is applied in the design of this dynamic controller. Possible source of instability of the controlled system in real cases are the influence of the flexibility on the rigid motion, the presence of disturbances acting on the structure, and parameter variations. In order to attenuate their effects and to damp out undesirable vibrations affecting the spacecraft attitude, distributed piezoelectric actuators are used. In fact, in presence of disturbances and/or parameter variation the proposed controller ensures an approximate solution of the control problem.