AA 528

Spacecraft dynamics and control involve understanding how gravitation, in addition to other forces such as drag and environmental perturbations, lead to interesting dynamics and means by which such a dynamics can be estimated and controlled. The list of topics that would fit this umbrella is indeed vast; these topics could intersect astrodynamics, planetary motion, ascent and descent trajectories, attitude dynamics, orbital perturbations, three-body problem and Halo orbits, underlying the mechanics and operation of sensors and actuators, guidance problems, verification and validation, data science of space mission analysis, design, and operation, constellations and formation flight, among so many others. But I had to draw the line for a one quarter course! Hence, here are the topics that I plan to discuss this quarter; even if you have seen these topics before, you will learn something new. week 1) Coordinates and Orientations: coordinate frames, rotation matrices, groups; quaternions and some algebra week 2) Taking derivatives, kinematics for translation and rotation; dynamics for translation and rotation; stability of torque free motion, week 3) two-body problem and examples covering landing and satellite reconfiguration via quaternion feedback, week 4) gravity gradients and introduction to rendezvous and docking, week 5) more on rendezvous problem and perturbation theory, week 6) attitude estimation, week 7) attitude control, week 8) restricted three body problem, week 9) GPS, constellations, space networks, and week 10) group presentations. It will be fun!

Please see the "Announcements" link on Class Canvas for a poll before the first class

Class Time: (Wednesdays and Fridays) 10:00 am - 11:20 am

Class Room: Guggenheim Hall 204

Homework Assignments: Assigned every Friday and due the following Friday at 11:59pm on Class Canvas; homework grades will also be available on canvas

Homework Submission Link: Class Canvas

Project: There will be a project/paper/presentation for the course assigned during the second half of the course and due at the end of the quarter

Grading: Homework assignments will be 65% of the grade and 35% will be project

Office Hours: Thursdays 4:00-6:00 pm in Guggenheim Hall 211/conference room; no office hours on Feb. 13 and no homework due on Feb. 14

The e-book version of the book can be purchased from here, as well as the bookstore and on Amazon.

The current version of my lecture notes in their entirety can be found here; some variation of the notes for each lecture can be found below.