Papers From The 13th Ifac Symposium On Automatic Control In Aerospace

Space vehicles have become increasingly complex in recent years, and the number of missions has multiplied as a result of extending frontiers in the exploration of our planetary system and the universe beyond. The advancement of automatic control in aerospace reflects these developments. Key areas covered in these proceedings include: the size and complexity of spacecrafts and the increasingly stringent performance requirements to be fulfilled in a harsh and unpredictable environment; the merger of space vehicles and airplanes into space planes to launch and retrieve payloads by reusable winged vehicles; and the demand to increase space automation and autonomy to reduce human involvement as much as possible in manned, man-tended and unmanned missions. This volume covers not only the newly evolving key technologies but also the classical issues of guidance, navigation and control.

The papers presented at the Symposium covered the areas in aerospace technology where automatic control plays a vital role. These included navigation and guidance, space robotics, flight management systems and satellite orbital control systems. The information provided reflects the recent developments and technical advances in the application of automatic control in space technology.