System identification of space structures

Large precision spacecraft present a challenging control problem. They are modally dense, have a very large frequency bandwidth over which disturbances can affect payload performance, and are lightly damped. The performance of passive vibration isolation systems is limited by the constraints of physics and mechanical components, particularly at low frequencies. This motivates the need for an active isolation system. High fidelity system models are required to obtain the high performance control. Developing these high fidelity system models of large space structures is a challenge for experiments, algorithms, and computational resources.