Coordinate Systems for Attitude Determination and Control

This guideline provides a procedure which specifies and documents consistent, useful, and welldefined coordinate system (or frame) definitions for spacecraft attitude control design and analysis. Several example coordinate frames and transformations are presented to show how these definitions are used to address various Attitude Control System (ACS) design issues. Past experience has shown the most efficient convention varies from project to project as a function of mission type, constraints, and performance requirements. This procedure addresses the process and documentation to reliably define the most efficient reference frame convention for a given mission or spacecraft.