Dynamics and control of Chinese polar orbit meteorological satellite

So far, the development of the sun-synchronous polar orbit meteorological satellite has experienced two stages in China. FY-1 satellite, the first generation, can only get two dimensional cloud images with the main on-board payload. The second generation polar orbit meteorological satellite, FY-3, with multi-payload on board, can obtain not only plane cloud images, but three dimensional weather data as well. The coverage of the satellite covers the whole earth, and therefore, acquiring the entire nephogram information and ocean data, which are very useful for the weather forecasting and ocean research. For the stability and the accuracy of the satellite, it is very important to study the attitude dynamics and control technology. Four meteorological satellites (FY-1A, FY-1B, FY-1C and FY-1D) have been launched in succession since September 1988. All those four satellites were of the first generation of Chinese meteorological satellite. Now, we are developing the second-generation of Chinese meteorological satellite. We are focusing on the two different control methods: i.e., zero-momentum mode and bias-momentum mode. Following is the result of our study and practice.