Optimal open loop maneuver profiles for flexible spacecraft

Aspects of structural excitation may have to be considered in cases in which an application for a flexible spacecraft involves a maneuvering of the vehicle between two quiescent attitude states. The reported investigation is concerned with the establishment of maneuver profiles that minimize this excitation, given that a certain maneuver amplitude must be accomplished within a certain time. Using the calculus of variations, an optimal profile is analytically established for a spacecraft characterized by a single significant structural bending mode. The application of this result to more complex structures is then considered. The term 'optimal profile' is interpreted to mean the extremal solution of a specified quadratic cost criterion involving the structural deformation and its time derivatives.