Point it where you want it.
Telling a spacecraft where to point is easy. Getting it there is the hard part, and it is the controller that does the work. Your team will run the same manoeuvre with two different controllers and find out what a more accurate one actually costs.
A stronger controller points more accurately. What does that cost the spacecraft?
Your role
Attitude-control engineer
Objective
Compare two bounded control responses and recommend the one that best balances pointing accuracy and actuator demand.
Success looks like
Run both responses, compare the modeled benefit and cost, select evidence, and state a control-model limitation.
Learning outcomes · Grades 11–12
What you should be able to do, and the evidence that shows it.
- 01By the end of this mission, the learner will be able to analyse how proportional and damping terms shape the response, and demonstrate this by relating each to a feature of the plotted trace.
- 02By the end of this mission, the learner will be able to evaluate whether saturating an actuator is acceptable for a stated mission, and demonstrate this by justifying that judgement from the evidence.
- 03By the end of this mission, the learner will be able to formulate a bounded tuning recommendation and state its verification limit, and demonstrate this by naming the physical test that would be required to confirm it.
Before we start
A quick check of what you already know. There is no score.
The idea behind the mission
Two runs, one difference: the controller. Same spacecraft, same starting position, same limit on how hard the wheels can push.
Accuracy is bought, not free
A controller that corrects harder gets closer to the target, but it has to turn the spacecraft faster and push the reaction wheels harder to do it. Wheels have limits. When one runs out of authority it cannot help any more, however much the controller asks.
Predict before you run
Before you run anything: which controller will finish closer to the target, and why?
Which controller will finish closer to the target, and why?
At least 20 characters — say what you expect and why.
Confirm mission readiness
This is a local preparation check. It is not Challenge qualification and creates no official attempt.
- Mission objective and success criterion reviewed
- Preparation diagnostic answered
- Mission theory reviewed
- Prediction recorded
Official qualification: false. This acknowledgement stays in this browser.
Configure the mission
These are the two set-ups you will compare. They are fixed on purpose: if only one thing differs between your runs, anything that changes was caused by it.
Baseline case
Weak controller
Candidate case
Tuned controller
- Write your prediction first.
- Change nothing except the controller.
- These results come from a model, not from a real spacecraft.
Units stay attached to every result: angles in degrees (°), time in seconds (s), power in watts (W), energy in watt-hours (Wh), battery state in percent (%), and elevation in degrees (°) where available.
Run the Digital Twin
Run the weak controller first, then the tuned one. Nothing else changes.
Baseline
Weak controller
Candidate
Tuned controller
Run the baseline first so you have something to compare against.
Read the evidence
Read both charts. The first is the job being done; the second is what it cost.
Run the Twin to produce evidence.
Make the engineering decision
Which controller would you fly, and which number in your evidence decided it?
Which controller do you recommend, and what evidence supports it?
What this does not prove
What this mission shows
- My prediction
- The controller comparison for the two runs
- Where each number came from
- One thing this model does not cover
What it does not establish
- These results are produced by a model. Nothing here was measured on a real spacecraft.
- The disturbances and reference directions are controlled teaching values, not an orbit-derived environment.
- This lesson does not show that any controller is ready to fly.
Name one thing this model does not tell you about a real control system.
Show what you understood
Formative feedback for you and your teacher. There is no official grade.
The stronger controller pointed far more accurately. What did that cost?
Which number tells you how well the controller did its job?
Which controller would you fly, and which number decided it?
Name one thing this model does not tell you about a real control system.
Reflect and complete
Completion records the work you did; it does not mean mastery, qualification, or an official grade.
Which signal decided your control recommendation, and why would one successful simulation not qualify a flight controller?
At least 20 characters. Editing this or any source work after completion invalidates the local record.
Revisit the mission evidence
Formative · not an official grade
No formative evidence has been recorded yet.
Formative band: revisit. Any formative band may complete the mission. Official grade: none.
Finish the required run or comparison, select evidence, make a decision, answer the formative assessment, and complete your reflection.
Save and hand in
Keep a copy of the work stored in this browser, or send it to your teacher for review.
Finalize the mission to create a local-practice record on this device.