Stabilization of Advanced Orbital Station at Equilibrium Attitude Using Rocket Engines

Angular motion control of an advanced orbital station is considered. A propulsion system with a large number of liquid-fuel rocket engines is used as an actuator for maneuvering and angular stabilization. The fuel consumption for the control of the angular motion of the station is minimized by considering an adaptive observer evaluating the disturbance moments that act on the station and placing rotation angles into the required equilibrium position with a minimized sum of gravitational, aerodynamic, and gyroscopic moments. The efficiency of this algorithm is confirmed by the results of mathematical simulation on a ground test bench for onboard software development.