Reaction wheel
Predictable and easy to control, but limited torque, and a high power draw to slew an agile spacecraft quickly.
Veoware Steering System
The hard part of CMG control, already solved
Control Moment Gyroscopes give a small satellite far more agility and torque than reaction wheels, but they need a smarter control layer to tame. Our turn-key steering system drives a full cluster across all three axes, so you don't have to.
Cluster-level rate steering · 3-axis torque · singularity avoidance
A CMG doesn't answer to torque the way a reaction wheel does
A reaction wheel is one-to-one: command an acceleration, get a proportional torque about that axis. A CMG spins a flywheel at constant speed and tilts it, so a tiny gimbal motion redirects a large stored momentum creating a large torque. Powerful, and the map from command to actuator is more complex — which is what the steering law is there to handle.
Control moment gyroscope
Exceptional torque for its size and power. But one torque can come from many gimbal motions, the mapping shifts as gimbals move, and certain geometries (singularities) momentarily lose authority. That is what the steering layer manages.
A clean three-axis torque source for your existing GNC
Your guidance and control loop keeps doing exactly what it already does, computing the body-frame torque the spacecraft should apply. Instead of mapping that to reaction wheels, it hands the requested torque to the Steering System, which owns everything downstream.
How the steering system fits in the loop
It receives
The requested torque in the body frame, plus the current gimbal positions and the spacecraft's angular rate.
It computes
The gimbal rates each CMG must execute to realise that torque, every control cycle.
It returns
The torque the cluster can actually deliver, its stored momentum, and how close it is to a singularity.
Inside VCSL, one torque map, five things solved at once
On every cycle the VEO Control Steering Logic solves for the gimbal rates that produce the requested torque, while simultaneously accounting for the factors that make CMG control demanding.
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Cluster geometry
ContinuousContinuously re-evaluates the Jacobian relating gimbal motion to output torque, so the map stays correct as the configuration changes.
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Actuator limits
Respects the maximum gimbal rates set by the CMG hardware, so commands are always physically realisable.
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Momentum saturation
Tracks the finite angular momentum the cluster can store and flags clearly when that envelope is reached.
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Singularity handling
Identifies and classifies singular states, then applies escape and avoidance logic to keep control authority in every direction.
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Gyroscopic effects
Uses the spacecraft's angular velocity to estimate and compensate for gyroscopic coupling across the cluster.
It degrades gracefully, it never just fails. When the full torque can't be met (near a singularity or at saturation) VCSL delivers the best achievable torque for the cluster's current state and reports the shortfall to your loop, so behaviour stays predictable.
Works with the geometry your mission needs
Standard pyramid and rooftop clusters, box and blended arrays, or a custom arrangement characterised ahead of the mission. The steering law adapts to all of them.
Blended array
CMGs plus reaction wheels for agility and fine pointing.
Box
An orthogonal box layout for a wide, even torque envelope.
Rooftop
Paired CMGs on a rooftop mount for balanced momentum.
Pyramid
Four CMGs on a pyramid, the classic high-agility cluster.
Hardware and steering, built together in Europe
The cluster and its steering logic are designed, integrated and qualified in-house, so the model that runs on orbit matches the hardware on the bench.
CMG on test bench
Cleanroom integration
Cabling & assembly
A documented task, not a research project
Inputs and outputs follow clearly defined cluster and body reference-frame conventions, so the system slots into your existing attitude-control architecture.
Inputs to the steering system
Requested torque
N·m body frame
Gimbal positions
rad per gimbal
Spacecraft angular rate
rad/s body frame
Cluster definition
geometry inertia, limits
Outputs & feedback
Gimbal rate commands
rad/s per CMG
Deliverable torque
N·m this cycle
Stored angular momentum
N·m·s
Singularity proximity
index 0 to 1
2019
CMG Prototyping & De risking
2021
CMG Development with European Space Agency
2023
Qualification and IOD of CMG
2024
Delivery to first customers
2025
Scale-up of production Constellation Contract Awarded
2026
Launch of First CMG part of a commercial constellation program
Unlock CMG-class agility on your spacecraft
Send us your inertia, target list and cluster geometry, we'll size and tune the steering.