Design and modeling of a peripheral pointing architecture for the SPACE testbed

Thesis (M.S.) California State University, Los Angeles, 2012Committee members: Helen Ryaciotaki-Boussalis, Khosrow Rad, Charles Liu, Fereydoun DaneshgaranNext generation segmented space telescopes such as the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) require highly accurate figure maintenance and pointing control in order to obtain clear images. The SPACE laboratory at CSULA is involved in a NASA funded research project to design and fabricate a testbed that resembles the complex dynamic behavior of a segmented space telescope such as the JWST. This thesis presents the design and modeling of a Peripheral Pointing Architecture (PPA) for the SPACE testbed. It describes the different components of the SPACE testbed and PPA. A finite element model of the PPA is developed using FEMAP and modal analysis is performed on the finite element model resulting in the natural frequencies, mode shapes, eigenvalues, and degrees of freedom of the PPA structure. The mass and stiffness matrices are extracted using DMAP. A procedure to develop a reduced order model and state-space representation is also presented