SPACECRAFT ATTITUDE CONTROL STRATEGY FOR REDUCING DISTURBANCE TORQUES

A control system (22) for reducing disturbance torque of a spacecraft (20) is disclosed. The spacecraft (20) revolves around a celestial body (36) surrounded by an atmosphere. The control system (22) includes processors (1032) in electronic communication with one or more actuators (28) and a memory (1034). The memory (1034) stores data into a database (1044) and program code that, when executed by the one or more processors (1032), causes the control system (22) to instruct the spacecraft (20) to enter a safing mode. In response to entering the safing mode, the control system (22) instructs the one or more actuators (28) to align a principal axis (A-A) of the spacecraft (20) with a vector (60) that is normal to the orbit (38) around the celestial body (36). The control system (22) also instructs the actuators (28) to rotate the spacecraft (20) about the principal axis (A-A), where a rotational orientation of the spacecraft (20) relative to the celestial body (36) is shifted by about one-half a rotation about the principal axis (A-A).