Submit to Special Issue Submit Abstract to Special Issue Review for Applied Sciences Propose a Special Issue

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

Advances in Spacecraft Attitude and Orbital Dynamics, Control, Trajectory Planning and Navigation

Print Special Issue Flyer
Special Issue Editors
Special Issue Information
Keywords
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
Published Papers

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Aerospace Science and Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 June 2025 | Viewed by 11566

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Weiduo Hu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

School of Astronautics, Beihang University, Beijing 10091, China
Interests: spacecraft navigation, control, and dynamics; orbital mechanics; simulation; attitude determination and control; optical navigation

Prof. Dr. Fu-Yuen Hsiao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Aerospace Engineering, Tamkang University, Tamsui, New Taipei City 25137, Taiwan
Interests: astrodynamics; Hamiltonian systems; dynamics; navigation; guidance and control

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Many themes are related to traditional spacecraft dynamics and control, which incorporate spacecraft attitude and orbit dynamics and control, as well as design, testing and performance of novel attitude sensors and actuators, and also cover the dynamics and control of multiple interconnected rigid and flexible bodies, including tethered systems, and in-orbit assembly.

There is also emphasis on studies and applications related to the guidance, navigation and control of Earth-orbiting and interplanetary spacecraft, including formation flying, rendezvous and docking.

This topic also includes advances in the knowledge of natural motions of objects in orbit around the Earth, planets and minor bodies, Lagrangian points and, more generally, natural orbital dynamics of spacecraft in the Solar System, and also the attitude dynamics of a spacecraft. It also covers advances in orbit determination.

Attitude and orbit trajectory planning, control and navigation for new space applications and missions are related to spacecraft design, operations and optimization of Earth-orbiting and interplanetary missions, with emphasis on studies and experiences related to current and future space application and missions. The attitude and orbit topics include, but are not limited to:

Formation flying and space nets;
Pursuit–evasion game control of spacecraft;
Orbit and attitude trajectory planning;
Constellations of global communication or remote sensing;
Asteroid or comet exploration and mining;
In situ resource utilization in space;
Space-based construction and assembly;
Planetary entry, descent and landing rendezvous and docking;
Neural-network-based pose estimation;
Point-cloud-based pose estimation;
AI-based trajectory optimization.

Prof. Dr. Weiduo Hu
Prof. Dr. Fu-Yuen Hsiao
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

orbital mechanics
orbital simulation
attitude control
tracking
trajectory prediction
navigation
guidance
aerospace engineering

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (9 papers)

Download All Papers

Order results

Result details

Show export options Show export options

Select all

Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

19 pages, 6930 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Deterministic Trajectory Design and Attitude Maneuvers of Gradient-Index Solar Sail in Interplanetary Transfers

by Marco Bassetto, Giovanni Mengali and Alessandro A. Quarta

Appl. Sci. 2024, 14(22), 10463; https://doi.org/10.3390/app142210463 - 13 Nov 2024

Viewed by 423

Abstract

A refractive sail is a special type of solar sail concept, whose membrane exposed to the Sun’s rays is covered with an advanced engineered film made of micro-prisms. Unlike the well-known reflective solar sail, an ideally flat refractive sail is able to generate a nonzero thrust component along the sail’s nominal plane even when the Sun’s rays strike that plane perpendicularly, that is, when the solar sail attitude is Sun-facing. This particular property of the refractive sail allows heliocentric orbital transfers between orbits with different values of the semilatus rectum while maintaining a Sun-facing attitude throughout the duration of the flight. In this case, the sail control is achieved by rotating the structure around the Sun–spacecraft line, thus reducing the size of the control vector to a single (scalar) parameter. A gradient-index solar sail (GIS) is a special type of refractive sail, in which the membrane film design is optimized though a transformation optics-based method. In this case, the membrane film is designed to achieve a desired refractive index distribution with the aid of a waveguide array to increase the sail efficiency. This paper analyzes the optimal transfer performance of a GIS with a Sun-facing attitude (SFGIS) in a series of typical heliocentric mission scenarios. In addition, this paper studies the attitude control of the Sun-facing GIS using a simplified mathematical model, in order to investigate the effective ability of the solar sail to follow the (optimal) variation law of the rotation angle around the radial direction. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Spacecraft Attitude and Orbital Dynamics, Control, Trajectory Planning and Navigation)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

17 pages, 4487 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Multi-Body Dynamics Modeling and Simulation of Maglev Satellites

by Zongyu Li, Weijie Wang and Lifen Wang

Appl. Sci. 2024, 14(17), 7588; https://doi.org/10.3390/app14177588 - 28 Aug 2024

Viewed by 749

Abstract

The Lorentz force magnetic levitation gim2bal stabilized platform (LFMP), as a new generation of high-precision turntable for maglev satellites, can meet the requirements of future spacecraft for ultra-high attitude pointing accuracy and stability. To solve the problem of three-module multi-body attitude control under maneuvering conditions, the platform subsystem is first dynamically modeled based on the second type of Lagrangian equation, and the payload subsystem is dynamically modeled based on the Newton–Euler method. Secondly, a multi-loop control system is designed, consisting of high-precision and fast attitude pointing control for the payload, position tracking control for the platform subsystem, and tracking control for the maglev module. The final simulation results verified the feasibility and effectiveness of the payload-centered control method. An evaluation of the stability with a specific model has been performed, and the attitude accuracy of the payload is within 0.00002° and the attitude stability is within 0.00005°/s. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Spacecraft Attitude and Orbital Dynamics, Control, Trajectory Planning and Navigation)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

27 pages, 5372 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Low-Cost Redundant Attitude System for Small Satellites, Based on Strap-Down Inertial Techniques and Gyro Sensors Linear Clustering

by Mircea Ștefan Mustață and Teodor Lucian Grigorie

Appl. Sci. 2024, 14(15), 6585; https://doi.org/10.3390/app14156585 - 27 Jul 2024

Viewed by 1041

Abstract

The significant technological changes related to the manufacturing of the miniaturized sensors produced a higher impact at the level of the detection units equipping the strap-down inertial navigation systems (INSs). Together with miniaturization, many more advantages are brought by these technologies, related to low costs, low necessary energy, high robustness and high potential for adapting the design solutions. However, reducing the dimensions and weight of the sensors is reflected by a decrease in their performance in terms of sensitivity, noise and the possibility of controlling sensitive elements. On the other hand, there is a permanent increase in the need to have in-space applications of miniaturized systems with a high degree of redundancy and to equip miniaturized satellites, miniaturized space robots or space rovers. The paper proposes a new methodology to increase the quality of the signals received from the miniaturized inertial measurement units (IMUs), but also to increase the degree of redundancy, by using low-cost sensors arranged in redundant linear configurations. The presentation is focused on the development of an attitude system based on strap-down inertial techniques which uses a redundant IMU equipped with three linear clusters of miniaturized gyros. For each of the three clusters, a data fusion mechanism based on the maximal ratio combining method is applied. This fusion mechanism reduces the noise power and bias of the signal delivered to the navigation processor. Shown are the theory, software modeling and experimentation results for the attitude algorithm, for the data fusion method, and for the integrated system. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Spacecraft Attitude and Orbital Dynamics, Control, Trajectory Planning and Navigation)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

31 pages, 15039 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Model-Based Design and Testbed for CubeSat Attitude Determination and Control System with Magnetic Actuation

by Franklin Josue Ticona Coaquira, Xinsheng Wang, Karen Wendy Vidaurre Torrez, Misael Jhamel Mamani Quiroga, Miguel Angel Silva Plata, Grace Abigail Luna Verdueta, Sandro Estiven Murillo Quispe, Guillermo Javier Auza Banegas, Franz Pablo Antezana Lopez and Arturo Rojas

Appl. Sci. 2024, 14(14), 6065; https://doi.org/10.3390/app14146065 - 11 Jul 2024

Viewed by 2598

Abstract

This study introduces a robust model-based framework designed for the verification and validation (V&V) of Attitude Determination and Control Systems (ADCSs) in nanosatellites, focusing on magnetic actuation while still being applicable to larger spacecraft platforms. By employing Model-in-the-Loop (MIL), Software-in-the-Loop (SIL), Processor-in-the-Loop (PIL), and Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) methodologies, this framework enables a thorough and systematic approach to testing and validation. The framework facilitates the assessment of long-term maneuvers, addressing challenges such as initial small-attitude errors and restricted 3D movements. Two specific maneuvers are evaluated: detumbling and nadir pointing, utilizing quaternions and a comprehensive suite of sensors, including six sun sensors, a three-axis magnetometer, a three-axis gyroscope, GPS, and three magnetorquers. The methodologies—MIL, SIL, PIL, and HIL—integrate the behaviors of digital sensors, analog signals, and astrodynamic perturbations. Based on an optimized SIL environment, Monte Carlo simulations were performed to optimize control gains for nadir pointing, achieving a mean pointing accuracy of 11.69° (MIL) and 18.22° (PIL), and an angular velocity norm of 0.0022 rad/s for detumbling. The HIL environment demonstrated a mean pointing accuracy of 9.96° and an angular velocity norm of 0.0024 rad/s. This comprehensive framework significantly advances the design and verification processes for nanosatellite ADCSs, enhancing the reliability and performance of nanosatellite missions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Spacecraft Attitude and Orbital Dynamics, Control, Trajectory Planning and Navigation)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 2264 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spatial Small Target Detection Method Based on Multi-Scale Feature Fusion Pyramid

by Xiaojuan Wang, Yuepeng Liu, Haitao Xu and Changbin Xue

Appl. Sci. 2024, 14(13), 5673; https://doi.org/10.3390/app14135673 - 28 Jun 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 747

Abstract

Small target detection has become an important part of space exploration missions. The existence of weak illumination and interference from the background of star charts in deep and distant space has brought great challenges to space target detection. In addition, the distance of space targets is usually far, so most of them are small targets in the image, and the detection of small targets is also very difficult. To solve the above problems, we propose a multi-scale feature fusion pyramid network. First, we propose the CST module of a CNN fused with Swin Transformer as the feature extraction module of the feature pyramid network to enhance the extraction of target features. Then, we improve the SE attention mechanism and construct the CSE module to find the attention region in the dense star map background. Finally, we introduce improved spatial pyramid pooling to fuse more features to increase the sensory field to obtain multi-scale object information and improve detection performance for small targets. We provide two versions and conducted a detailed ablation study to empirically validate the effectiveness and efficiency of the design of each component in our network architecture. The experimental results show that our network improved in performance compared to the existing feature pyramid. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Spacecraft Attitude and Orbital Dynamics, Control, Trajectory Planning and Navigation)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

22 pages, 939 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Multivariate Attention-Based Orbit Uncertainty Propagation and Orbit Determination Method for Earth–Jupiter Transfer

by Zhe Zhang, Yishuai Shi and Hongwei Han

Appl. Sci. 2024, 14(10), 4263; https://doi.org/10.3390/app14104263 - 17 May 2024

Viewed by 766

Abstract

Current orbit uncertainty propagation (OUP) and orbit determination (OD) methods suffer from drawbacks related to high computational burden, limiting their applications in deep space missions. To this end, this paper proposes a multivariate attention-based method for efficient OUP and OD of Earth–Jupiter transfer. First, a neural network-based OD framework is utilized, in which the orbit propagation process in a traditional unscented transform (UT) and unscented Kalman filter (UKF) is replaced by the neural network. Then, the sample structure of training the neural network for the Earth–Jupiter transfer is discussed and designed. In addition, a method for efficiently generating a large number of samples for the Earth–Jupiter transfer is presented. Next, a multivariate attention-based neural network (MANN) is designed for orbit propagation, which shows better capacity in terms of accuracy and generalization than the deep neural network. Finally, the proposed method is successfully applied to solve the OD problem in an Earth–Jupiter transfer. Simulations show that the proposed method can obtain a similar estimation to the UKF while saving more than 90% of the computational cost. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Spacecraft Attitude and Orbital Dynamics, Control, Trajectory Planning and Navigation)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

15 pages, 978 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Passivity-Based Control with Disturbance Observer of Electromagnetic Formation Flight Spacecraft in the Port-Hamiltonian Framework

by Jiaming Wang, Qingrui Zhou, Wei Zheng and Jiang Shao

Appl. Sci. 2024, 14(10), 4248; https://doi.org/10.3390/app14104248 - 17 May 2024

Viewed by 820

Abstract

Satellite formation flying technology currently represents a focal point in space mission research. Traditional spacecraft payload performance and lifespan are often constrained by propellant limitations. Electromagnetic Formation Flying (EMFF), a propellant-free formation flying technique, has garnered widespread attention. Its inherent strong nonlinearity and coupling present challenges for high-precision control within EMFF. This paper presents the relative motion dynamics of a two-satellite EMFF in the port-Hamiltonian framework and constructs an accurate nonlinear model of the dynamics. Utilizing the concept of Interconnection and Damping Assignment and nonlinear disturbance observer, a composite disturbance-rejection passivity-based controller is designed, offering a method for controlling the magnetic dipole strength of formation satellites. Finally, numerical simulations are conducted to demonstrate the viability of the proposed dynamics model and control strategy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Spacecraft Attitude and Orbital Dynamics, Control, Trajectory Planning and Navigation)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

22 pages, 2642 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Revisiting the Numerical Evaluation and Visualization of the Gravity Fields of Asteroid 4769 Castalia Using Polyhedron and Harmonic Expansions Models

by Weiduo Hu, Tao Fu and Chang Liu

Appl. Sci. 2024, 14(10), 4058; https://doi.org/10.3390/app14104058 - 10 May 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1493

Abstract

For the convenience of comparison with previous literature, the gravity calculations are revisited for the Asteroid 4769 Castalia, but with extensions on its surface and on intersecting planes and spheres around it, using the polyhedron and harmonic expansion methods with different order and degree for different cases, especially including the gravitational accelerations inside the asteroid, which did not appear at all before. In these evaluations, a few different facts of the these methods and results are revealed, such as the fact that gravity diverges when the position radius is less than the mean radius from harmonic-expansion method, and the maximum gravity is not at the deep valley and mountain top. For a surface that intersects the asteroid, the maximum gravity on it is at the intersection lines between the asteroid surface and the spheres or planes. This means that on the sphere and the plane, the gravities inside and outside the asteroid are smaller than the gravity on the intersection, i.e., on the surface. Some analyses of these conclusions are given with many examples with different radii of the sphere and with different order and degree harmonic expansion models for the above asteroid surface and surrounding spheres. It is interesting to note that very few researchers know that the polyhedral method can also be used to calculate the gravity inside an asteroid with just some modifications of the code. Some special gravity figures on surface and planes inside the asteroid Castalia are computed and made for the first time. The calculations also include tangential gravity, potential, and gravitational slope on surface. Specifically, we find that the overall mean gravitational slope could be one kind of indicator of the density of an asteroid. The minimum overall mean slope happens when the asteroid density is about 2.9 g/cm³, which is much larger than a usually assumed value between 1.7 and 2.5 for asteroid Castalia when its period is 4.07 h, since rotation period should be a more accurate parameter than its estimated density. These conclusions about this typical prolate-like asteroid could be a benchmark for analyzing other similar asteroids. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Spacecraft Attitude and Orbital Dynamics, Control, Trajectory Planning and Navigation)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

14 pages, 4349 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Optimal Trajectories of Diffractive Sail to Highly Inclined Heliocentric Orbits

by Giovanni Mengali and Alessandro A. Quarta

Appl. Sci. 2024, 14(7), 2922; https://doi.org/10.3390/app14072922 - 29 Mar 2024

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 793

Abstract

Recent literature indicates that the diffractive sail concept is an interesting alternative to the more conventional reflective solar sail, which converts solar radiation pressure into a (deep space) thrust using a thin, lightweight highly reflective membrane, usually metalized. In particular, a diffractive sail, which uses a metamaterial-based membrane to diffract incoming solar rays, is able to generate a steerable thrust vector even when the sail nominal plane is perpendicular to the Sun–spacecraft line. This paper analyzes the optimal transfer performance of a diffractive-sail-based spacecraft in a challenging heliocentric scenario that is consistent with the proposed Solar Polar Imager mission concept. In this case, the spacecraft must reach a near-circular (heliocentric) orbit with a high orbital inclination with respect to the Ecliptic in order to observe and monitor the Sun’s polar regions. Such a specific heliocentric scenario, because of the high velocity change it requires, is a mission application particularly suited for a propellantless propulsion system such as the classical solar sail. However, as shown in this work, the same transfer can be accomplished using a diffractive sail as the primary propulsion system. The main contribution of this paper is the analysis of the spacecraft transfer trajectory using a near-optimal strategy by dividing the entire flight into an approach phase to a circular orbit of the same radius as the desired final orbit but with a smaller inclination, and a subsequent cranking phase until the desired (orbital) inclination is reached. The numerical simulations show that the proposed strategy is sufficiently simple to implement and can provide solutions that differ by only a few percentage points from the optimal results obtainable with a classical indirect approach. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Spacecraft Attitude and Orbital Dynamics, Control, Trajectory Planning and Navigation)

► Show Figures

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

Advances in Spacecraft Attitude and Orbital Dynamics, Control, Trajectory Planning and Navigation

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Special Issue Information

Keywords

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

Published Papers (9 papers)

Research

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI