Attitude Control of Flexible Spacecraft Modeled Using Reference Nodal Coordinate Formulation

This paper presents an accurate methodology for modeling flexible spacecraft with large deformations, such as spacecraft with flexible appendages. The high-order accurate dynamic model is derived using the Reference Nodal Coordinate Formulation, and model reduction techniques are applied to obtain a accurate low-order model. The paper emphasizes the importance of considering geometric nonlinearity and using nonlinear low-order models in the simulation of three-axis attitude control for flexible spacecraft. Furthermore, a comparative evaluation of different geometric attitude controllers is carried out through numerical simulations to assess their performance in three-axis stabilization of flexible spacecraft.