Citations

This page tracks source literature behind package-level algorithms, estimator formulations, environmental models, and reusable technical methods. Each entry links to the relevant package documentation, gives the original citation, and links to the original paper.

Satellite and component data sources for preset factories are listed on the Satellite Factory pages next to the affected spacecraft or hardware rows. Keep factory-only data sources there so large preset tables remain traceable without turning this page into a duplicate bibliography.

When adding a new paper-derived algorithm or reusable model, include the documentation page where the model is described and cite the source used for the equations, assumptions, or parameter values.

Project information and the usage disclaimer are available on the About page.

Control Laws

Model

Documentation

Original citation

Paper

Lovera-Astolfi magnetic PD control

MTQ_Lovera

  1. Lovera and A. Astolfi, “Global Magnetic Attitude Control of Inertially Pointing Spacecraft,” Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, Vol. 28, No. 5, 2005, pp. 1065-1072.

doi:10.2514/1.11844

Wisniewski sliding mode magnetic control

MTQ_Wisniewski

  1. Wisniewski, “Sliding Mode Attitude Control for Magnetic Actuated Satellite,” IFAC Proceedings Volumes, Vol. 31, No. 21, 1998, pp. 179-184.

doi:10.1016/S1474-6670(17)41076-7

Hogan-Schaub continuous momentum dumping

MTQ_w_RW

    1. Hogan and H. Schaub, “Three-Axis Attitude Control Using Redundant Reaction Wheels with Continuous Momentum Dumping,” Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, Vol. 38, No. 10, 2015, pp. 1865-1871.

doi:10.2514/1.G000812

Mixed RW-MTQ LP allocation

MTQ_w_RW_LP

  1. McKeen, N. Scheuer, and K. Cahoy, “Generalized Attitude Control for Small Spacecraft,” 40th Annual Small Satellite Conference, Poster Session 2, SSC26-P2-54, 2026.

USU DigitalCommons

Mixed RW-MTQ QP allocation

MTQ_w_RW_QP

  1. McKeen, N. Scheuer, and K. Cahoy, “Generalized Attitude Control for Small Spacecraft,” 40th Annual Small Satellite Conference, Poster Session 2, SSC26-P2-54, 2026.

USU DigitalCommons

Orbits

The orbit environment models use the following external Python libraries for planetary ephemerides and geomagnetic-field calculations.

Model

Documentation

Original citation

Reference

Planetary ephemeris and celestial-body positions

ADCS.orbits.ephemeris.Ephemeris

  1. Rhodes, “Skyfield: High precision research-grade positions for planets and Earth satellites in Python,” 2019, ASCL: ascl:1907.024.

Skyfield documentation

IGRF geomagnetic field

ADCS.orbits.orbital_state.Orbital_State

International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy, IGRF-14 (2024), coefficient dataset. Also cite C. Beggan et al., “International geomagnetic reference field: the fourteenth generation,” Earth, Planets and Space, 78, 127 (2026), and IAGA-VMOD, ppigrf: Pure Python IGRF for the legacy backend.

IGRF-14 coefficient dataset, doi:10.5281/zenodo.14012302; IGRF-14 paper, doi:10.1186/s40623-025-02360-0; ppigrf

Estimators

Estimator citations should be added here when an estimator implementation is derived from a specific paper or validated against a published formulation.

Model

Documentation

Original citation

Paper

Wahba’s problem (the loss every single-frame method minimises)

attitude_determination

  1. Wahba, “A Least Squares Estimate of Satellite Attitude,” SIAM Review, Vol. 7, No. 3, 1965, p. 409.

doi:10.1137/1007077

TRIAD two-vector attitude determination

attitude_determination

    1. Black, “A Passive System for Determining the Attitude of a Satellite,” AIAA Journal, Vol. 2, No. 7, 1964, pp. 1350-1351.

doi:10.2514/3.2555

Davenport’s q-method

attitude_determination

    1. Davenport, “A Vector Approach to the Algebra of Rotations with Applications,” NASA TN D-4696, 1968.

NTRS 19680021122

QUEST and the optimal attitude covariance

attitude_determination

    1. Shuster and S. D. Oh, “Three-Axis Attitude Determination from Vector Observations,” Journal of Guidance and Control, Vol. 4, No. 1, 1981, pp. 70-77.

doi:10.2514/3.19717

Quaternion from a rotation matrix (Shepperd’s method)

attitude_determination

    1. Shepperd, “Quaternion from Rotation Matrix,” Journal of Guidance and Control, Vol. 1, No. 3, 1978, pp. 223-224.

doi:10.2514/3.55767b

Survey of single-frame attitude estimators

attitude_determination

    1. Markley and D. Mortari, “Quaternion Attitude Estimation Using Vector Observations,” Journal of the Astronautical Sciences, Vol. 48, No. 2-3, 2000, pp. 359-380.

(journal article)