Given the difficulty that is normally associated with tuning highly nonlinear control systems, such as seen in LEO spacecraft, it is interesting to evaluate how new controller types perform. The measured data from the GOCE mission has led to the creation of high fidelity torque models describing the angular perturbations acting on a spacecraft. These torque models present an excellent opportunity to test the performance of new magnetically actuated attitude control methods. The work done in this thesis used these torque models in a simulation environment to evaluate the performance of an INDI-based control architecture for controlling the attitude of a GOCE-type spacecraft, using magnetic control actuation only. The goal was to evaluate whether an INDI-based control architecture can meet the same requirements that were set for the GOCE mission, and simultaneously evaluate the difficulty of tuning the controller and its sensitivity to errors and changes in gains once it is tuned. To achieve this a PD-controller was used as a reference controller, and two INDI-based controllers were set-up. One with a linear control outer loop (LINDI), and one with an NDI outer loop (NINDI). All three controllers have been tuned using a genetic algorithm.

Even though several orbit visualization tools exist, the ability to compare multiple satellite orbits or manipulate time are not readily available with the current tools. Furthermore, most other visualization tools require additional effort or installations to work properly. To address these issues with other tools an interactive, web-based, near-Earth orbit visualization tool was developed. This was done to answer the question: What are the uses of another interactive, web-based, near-Earth orbit visualization tool? After the development of the tool was completed, several use cases were examined. These use cases included visualizing constellations and space debris, reproducing the Iridium 33 and Cosmos 2251 collision, visualizing special orbits for educational purposes, and the reproduction of an aurora event which involved SWARM and EPOP satellites. The tool provides its users with a wide range of functionality, while keeping it easy to use. The tool can be accessed on orbits.tudelft.nl and the source code can be found on https://gitlab.com/SvenKardol/OrbitVisualization-Tool.