Control Theory
Author's Note: I wrote this when I was in university, around 2013. I think it has some relevance now, which is why I'm posting it again. So last semester I took a class called "Spacecraft Control." In this course, I was supposed to be learning the details of control theory as it relates to spacecraft flying through...wait for it...space. It had to do with all sorts of interesting things such as aerodynamic braking, outgassing (spacecraft flatulence), spin, wobble, differential equations, and all sorts of fun things. I should note here that this class is the sequel to a class called "Spacecraft Attitude Dynamics," which makes the acronym, SAD. This is appropriate, because while I'm sure the professor was actually talking about spacecraft control things, my classmates and I had no clue what he was talking about, and managed to pass the class by bullshitting our way through the final presentation. Sad, huh? This is only relevant because of what I ...