Optimal control problems are formulated and efficient computational
procedures are proposed for combined orbital and rotational maneuvers of a
rigid body in three dimensions. The rigid body is assumed to act under the
influence of forces and moments that arise from a potential and from control
forces and moments. The key features of this paper are its use of computational
procedures that are guaranteed to preserve the geometry of the optimal
solutions. The theoretical basis for the computational procedures is
summarized, and examples of optimal spacecraft maneuvers are presented.Comment: IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2006. 6 pages, 19 figure