MODEL PREDICTIVE CONTROL OF SPACECRAFT

A method controls an operation of a spacecraft according to a model of the spacecraft. The method determines control inputs for controlling concurrently thrusters of the spacecraft and momentum exchange devices of the spacecraft using an optimization of a cost function over a receding horizon subject to constraints on a pose of the spacecraft and constraints on inputs to the thrusters. The cost function includes components for controlling the pose of the spacecraft and a momentum stored by the momentum exchange devices. The method generates a command to control concurrently the thrusters and the momentum exchange devices according to at least a portion of the control inputs.