Patent ID: 8688296

Claim:
A method for changing the attitude of a satellite that is controlled by a plurality of control moment gyroscopes movable through gimbal angles, the method comprising: selecting a target for imaging; determining a final attitude for pointing the satellite to the target and a final satellite rate for imaging the target; providing an initial attitude and an initial set of gimbal angles comprising an initial gimbal angle for each control moment gyroscope; generating a first portion of a gimbal rate trajectory from the initial set of gimbal angles to an interim set of gimbal angles comprising an interim gimbal angle for each control moment gyroscope, the generation of the first portion of the gimbal rate trajectory comprising: determining the unique interim gimbal angles that impart the maximum angular momentum to the satellite; assigning a substantially maximum velocity to the control moment gyroscope with the largest difference between its initial and interim gimbal angles; and assigning a proportionate velocity to the remaining control moment gyroscopes such that they reach their interim gimbal angles at the same time as the control moment gyroscope with the largest difference between its initial and interim gimbal angles; generating a second portion of the gimbal rate trajectory from the interim set of gimbal angles to a final set of gimbal angles comprising a final gimbal angle for each control moment gyroscope, the generation of the second portion of the gimbal rate trajectory comprising: determining the final gimbal angles that achieve the final attitude for pointing the satellite to the target and the final satellite rate for imaging the target, assigning a substantially maximum velocity to the control moment gyroscope with the largest difference between its interim and final gimbal angles; and assigning a proportionate velocity to the remaining control moment gyroscopes such that they reach their final gimbal angles at the same time as the control moment gyroscope with the largest difference between its interim and final gimbal angles; and moving the control moment gyroscopes on the satellite according to the gimbal rate trajectory.