Integration planning of gimbal angle and attitude motion for zero propellant maneuver under attitude and control moment gyroscope constraints

Zero propellant maneuver is an advanced concept of large spacecraft attitude control that has recently been applied to International Space Station. The objective of this paper is the zero propellant maneuver path planning of space station under attitude and control moment gyroscope constraints. First, a multi-constraint model of zero propellant maneuver with single gimbal control moment gyroscopes is established. Then, an integrated planning algorithm of gimbal angle and attitude motion is proposed: Local Control Differential Evolution. The algorithm can simultaneously handle attitude constraints and control moment gyroscope constraints to obtain an attitude path that satisfies the attitude constraints and a gimbal angle path that is far from singularity and saturation. In addition, the algorithm combines the local control algorithm with the global differential evolution algorithm. The local control algorithm based on the potential function idea can better deal with local attitude obstacle constraints, and the global optimization algorithm based on the improved differential evolution algorithm can perform global gimbal angle optimization. Finally, simulation results show that the method is effective in dealing with both attitude and control moment gyroscope constraints.