Two-stage Active Disturbance Rejection Control in aerospace applications: The case of an orbit transfer for a point mass satellite.

Technological advances have led to the development of smaller and more efficient satellites, which have gained popularity in various fields including education, research, and communications. However, disturbances such as gravitational forces, atmospheric drag, and space debris may affect their orbits. This article proposes a two-stage Active Disturbance Rejection Control (ADRC) approach for the orbit transfer of small satellites. The paper presents the control design procedure and showcases numerical simulations, demonstrating the technique’s effectiveness in the particular case of study.