Exponential Stabilization of the Complete Attitude of an Underactuated Spacecraft

In this paper, two kinematic controllers capable of stabilizing the complete attitude of an underactuated satellite are presented. Previous controllers in the literature impose limitations on the satellite’s initial conditions or give rise to state manifolds which can lead to undesired behavior. We utilize averaging theory to construct two controllers that exponentially stabilize the satellite’s complete attitude without the previous limitations. Both control laws are shown to yield exponential stability, with the second control law having potentially a larger region of attraction.