A general structure of the kinematic equations for attitude evolution of a spacecraft (SC) (coordinate system associated with a spacecraft (SCS)) relative to the reference coordinate system (RCS) is proposed. It is assumed that the origins of the coordinate systems coincide and are located at an arbitrary point of the spacecraft. Each of the coordinate systems rotates at an arbitrary absolute angular velocity (relative to the inertial space) specified by the projections on their axes. Attitude parameters can be the Euler–Krylov angles, Rodrigues–Hamilton parameters, and modified Rodrigues parameters. It is shown that the well-known representations of the attitude evolution equations of the SCS relative to the RCS using the Rodrigues-Hamilton parameters (components of normalized quaternions) can be simply obtained from the solution of the Erugin problem of finding the entire set of differential equations with a given integral of motion. The advantages and disadvantages of use for each of the specified attitude parameters are considered. A method of attitude control synthesis is proposed which is common for all these equations and based on the decomposition of the original problem into kinematic and dynamic ones and the use of well-known generalizations of the direct Lyapunov method for their solution. The property of structural roughness according to Andronov–Pontryagin [27–29] of the obtained algorithm is illustrated with the help of computer simulation. Particularly, a specific example illustrates the possibility for even a structurally simplified algorithm of stabilizing a specified constant spacecraft attitude to track the program of its change with sufficient accuracy. The tracking task is typical for the control of spacecraft docking, spacecraft de-orbiting, and performing route surveys of the Earth's surface.
Inertia-Free Spacecraft Attitude Control with Reaction-Wheel Actuation
