Fengyun-4 Attitude Control System Design and Its In-Flight Performance

Fengyun-4, launched on 11 December 2016, is a second-generation geostationary meteorological satellite that employs a three-axis-stabilized attitude control strategy with a zero-momentum state. This Paper introduces the attitude control system of the spacecraft platform and its in-flight performance. The development status of current meteorological satellites in the same generation are reviewed. The Fengyun-4 attitude control system and technical details are presented, including highly accurate attitude determination, attitude-pointing control with high accuracy and stability requirements under the disturbance of rapid steering payloads, momentum management and adjustment, and accommodation to operate after turning 180 deg about the yaw axis, as well as fault diagnosis, isolation, and recovery. In-flight results are presented to demonstrate that the attitude control system of the spacecraft platform could fulfill the Fengyun-4 mission requirements.