Space vehicles have become increasingly complex in recent years, and the number of missions has multiplied as a result of extending frontiers in the exploration of our planetary system and the universe beyond. The advancement of automatic control in aerospace reflects these developments. Key areas covered in these proceedings include: the size and complexity of spacecrafts and the increasingly stringent performance requirements to be fulfilled in a harsh and unpredictable environment; the merger of space vehicles and airplanes into space planes to launch and retrieve payloads by reusable winged vehicles; and the demand to increase space automation and autonomy to reduce human involvement as much as possible in manned, man-tended and unmanned missions. This volume covers not only the newly evolving key technologies but also the classical issues of guidance, navigation and control.

An important, successful area for control systems development is that of state-of-the-art aeronautical and space related technologies. Leading researchers and practitioners within this field have been given the opportunity to exchange ideas and discuss results at the IFAC symposia on automatic control in aerospace. The key research papers presented at the latest in the series have been put together in this publication to provide a detailed assessment of present and future developments of these control system technologies.

Satellites are used increasingly in telecommunications, scientific research, surveillance, and meteorology, and these satellites rely heavily on the effectiveness of complex onboard control systems. This 1997 book explains the basic theory of spacecraft dynamics and control and the practical aspects of controlling a satellite. The emphasis throughout is on analyzing and solving real-world engineering problems. For example, the author discusses orbital and rotational dynamics of spacecraft under a variety of environmental conditions, along with the realistic constraints imposed by available hardware. Among the topics covered are orbital dynamics, attitude dynamics, gravity gradient stabilization, single and dual spin stabilization, attitude maneuvers, attitude stabilization, and structural dynamics and liquid sloshing.

The study of nonlinear phenomena in aviation and aerospace includes developments in computer technology and the use of nonlinear mathematical models. Nonlinearities are a feature of aircraft dynamics and flight control systems and need to respond to achieve stability and performance. This multiauthor volume comprises selected papers from the confer