On the pointing robustness issue of a class of new generation spacecraft

A control design procedure for dealing with the robust slewing and pointing manoeuvres of a class of new generation spacecraft is proposed. The technique is based on the application of the optimal interpolation technique to the sliding control approach. This is used subsequently for insuring high pointing and tracking performance of the system in the presence of induced structural disturbances and modeling uncertainties. Numerical simulations are carried out, and suggestions for further studies are outlined.