The goal of this book is to provide the reader with the basic engineering notions of controlling a satellite. In the author's experience, one of the most important facts to be taught from the beginning is practical engineering reality. Theoretical, “nice” control solutions are seriously hampered when practical problems (e.g., sensor noise amplification, unexpected time delays, control saturation effects, structural modes, etc.) emerge at a later stage of the design process. The control algorithms must then be redesigned, with the inevitable loss of time and delay of the entire program. Early anticipation of these effects shortens the design process considerably. Hence it is of utmost importance to analyze different concepts for engineering solutions of spacecraft control tasks in the preliminary design stages, so that the correct one will be selected at the outset. This is why several approaches may be suggested for a given control task.

Part of the material in this textbook has been used as background for a single-semester course on “Spacecraft Dynamics and Control” – offered since 1986 at the Tel Aviv University and also more recently at the Israel Institute of Technology, the Technion, Haifa. All the material in this book is appropriate for a course of up to two semesters in length. The book is intended for introductory graduate-level or advanced undergraduate courses, and also for the practicing engineer. A prerequisite is a first course in automatic control, continuous and sampled, and a first course in mechanics. This, in turn, assumes knowledge of linear algebra, linear systems, Laplace transforms, and dynamics.

A sequential reading of the book is advised, although the chapters are for the most part self-contained. A preliminary overview is recommended in order to acquire a feeling for the book's contents; this will help enormously in the second, and deeper, reading.

Modern spacecraft control concepts are based on a vast choice of physical phenomena: single- and dual-spin stabilization; gravity gradient attitude control; three-axis stabilization; momentum-bias stabilization; and solar, magnetic, or reaction torque stabilization. It is important to master the essential qualities of each before choosing one as an engineering solution.