Active Digital Twins at ESA's Control Lab: Enablers for Complex Spacecraft Controls Solutions

Current and future control problems at the European Space Agency (ESA), such as reusable launch systems, high performance satellites, and the next generation of planetary high-precision entry descent and landing systems, require robust stabilization and performance as well as real-time adaptation.

The same holds true for the future ESA science, exploration, and robotic missions. These include rendezvous, robotic assembly, refueling and mated flight operations, and spacecraft high-precision pointing and agility. In general, it remains difficult for engineers to acquire and integrate domain-specific models stemming from fluid dynamics, mechanics, thermal, propulsion, and other disciplines.

This talk will show:

• How digital twins enable applications at the ESA through a unified multi-domain toolset for the exploration of novel active controls solutions.
• How using advanced multi-physics modeling and control techniques within a monolithic design framework allows systematic assessment of specifications in time and frequency domains.
• How to cycle rapidly between design options and validation through model-in-the-loop, processor-in-the-loop, and hardware-in-the-loop within in-flight testing environments enabled by automatic code generation.