Honeywell has developed a spacecraft attitude-dynamics testbed that is designed to assist in research, demonstration, and validation of hardware and software architectures for such spacecraft. The testbed offers high-agility slew and scan capability (via six 225 ft-lb CMGs) with structural control (via active vibration-isolation and payload-steering platforms and discrete high-performance structural dampers). The combination of an interferometry-based line-of-sight metrology system capable of 40 nanoradians resolution and a large range-of-motion spherical airbearing offers a unique environment for realtime, hardware-in-the-loop testing of innovative controls and dynamics concepts in spacecraft design. This paper describes the facility's capabilities, including its ability for autocoding MATLAB/Simulink models, attitude-control and estimation design, structural design, and disturbance-mitigation measures. It also presents recent data showing the pointing performance of a structure driven by a momentum control system.
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