Presenting the established principles underpinning space robotics (conservation of momentum and energy, stability) with a thorough and modern approach, chapters build from general physical foundations through an extensive treatment of kinematics of multi-body systems, and then to conservation principles in dynamics. The latter part of the book focuses on real-life applications related to space systems. Drawing upon years of practical experience and using numerous solved examples, illustrative applications and MATLAB, the author includes: an explanation of basic space mechanics and the dynamics of space vehicles; a rigorous treatment of conservation and variational principles in dynamics and in control theory that can be applied to a range of space vehicles and robotic systems; and a systematic presentation of the application of dynamics and control theory to real spacecraft systems.
