Space Lander Descent Control System Design Considering Fuel Sloshing Under Microgravity

This study proposes a descent control system for a space lander with a large amount of fuel, to protect the lander from overturning when landing on microgravity objects. As sloshing is a major problem during descent, it is desirable to construct a control system that considers the sloshing dynamics. We derive a model of the lander considering fuel dynamics, determine the fuel-optimal trajectory for guidance, design a fuel state estimator for navigation, and design a tracking controller. The effectiveness of the proposed method is evaluated using a physical simulator. The proposed method achieves simultaneous stabilization of the lander and fuel, and is shown to be effective in preventing overturning.