Aggressive tracking in a newtonian simulation

So I originally posted the following to the bulletphysics.org general 
discussion forum. But perhaps this mailing list is a better venue 
since the subject is related to what I imagine is basic flight sim 
development and steering behavior:


>I am a programmer tasked with developing a newtonian simulation of 
>high performance spacecraft. For the sake of discussion, each craft 
>is a rigid body with non uniform moments that must navigate its 
>environment by applying only (central) forces and torques. Mass and 
>acceleration can vary by a couple orders of magnitude. Linear and 
>angular tracking are treated independently. The high order 
>parameters are: max speed, max angular speed, max torque scalar (may 
>be component-wise) and max force magnitude.
>
>Here's what I have now:
>
>The linear tracking code is very simple and attempts to minimize the 
>difference between actual velocity and desired velocity using 
>kinematic knowledge of motion to produce the desired velocity at 
>each tick (accelerate to apogee, decelerate to target). This is 
>comfortable territory.
>
>Angular tracking is significantly more bloated and follows the same 
>principals by trying to minimize local angular error component-wise. 
>There is some hand-waving of the coupling of large angular terms 
>that makes this even remotely acceptable. So it works alright if 
>there is an abundance of turning power, but the big problem is that 
>it is just a messy solution that I'm afraid might blow up in my face later.
>
>Is there a better way to approach the angular tracking problem or is 
>this just how it is done? I intend to start layering flight AI on 
>top of this simulation.
>
>(If there are flight sim devs out there in the crowd, what can I 
>say, I would really appreciate your advice!)
>:)
>



Cheers,
Darren

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