Patent ID: 8880246

Claim:
A method for guiding a spacecraft from an initial state to a final state using a plurality of control momentum gyroscopes, the method comprising: receiving input data including: an initial spacecraft state defining an initial spacecraft attitude vector, an initial spacecraft rate vector, an initial CMG angle vector, and an initial CMG angle rate vector, a desired final spacecraft state defining a desired final spacecraft attitude vector, a desired final spacecraft rate vector, a desired final CMG angle vector, and a desired final CMG angle rate vector, and a plurality of constraints defining desired limitations with respect to at least one of spacecraft attitude, spacecraft motion, and CMG operation, the plurality of constraints including a steering law constraint based on a steering law used in operating the spacecraft; formulating a control problem based at least partially on the input data including the steering law constraint; using at least one processor, solving the control problem to provide a time-varying attitude command vector comprising a plurality of time-varying attitude command signals or values representing a plurality of spacecraft states and control trajectories with respect to one or more of spacecraft angles, spacecraft angle rates, and spacecraft angle accelerations; and providing the time-varying attitude command vector as a guidance command input to an attitude controller of the spacecraft for operating the plurality of control momentum gyroscopes to guide the spacecraft from the initial state to the final state.