Nonlinear Spacecraft Attitude Regulation

Nonlinear Spacecraft Attitude Regulation

PhD in Aeronautical and Space Engineering

Hours of lecture
16

Period
September 29th - October 22nd, 2025

Time and place
Mondays, 10:00am -  12:00pm, Lecture room at first floor of E building
Wednesdays, 10:00am -  12:00pm, Lecture room at first floor of E building
E building is at the Faculty of Civil and Industrial engineering, via Eudossiana 18

Office hours
Contact me to fix an appointment
e-mail: fabio.celani@uniroma1.it
ph.: +39 06 4991 9755

Learning objectives
Spacecraft attitude equations are in many situations given by nonlinear equations. However, spacecraft attitude control laws are often designed by using a linear approximation of those equations about an operating condition. Thus, the effectiveness of the control laws can be guaranteed only for attitude motions close to the operating condition. There are occasions when the attitude motion is far from the operating condition. For those motions, the full nonlinear attitude equations must be used for evaluating the effectiveness of the control laws. This course presents the design of a spacecraft attitude regulation law along with mathematical tools useful to validate the design with a nonlinear model. 

Requirements
It is required that students have a basic knowledge on spacecraft attitude dynamics.

Contents (tentative)
spacecraft attitude regulation via feedback control, nonlinear spacecraft model, linearized spacecraft model, proportional-derivative attitude regulation, stability of equilibrium, Lyapunov’s stability theorem, Lyapunov’s indirect method, local stability analysis of spacecraft subject to attitude regulation, Krasovskii La Salle’s theorem, global analysis of spacecraft subject to attitude regulation, unwinding phenomenon, saturation of control torque.

Bibliography
Anton H. J. de Ruiter, Christopher J. Damaren, James R. Forbes. Spacecraft Dynamics and Control: an Introduction, Wiley, 2013.
F. Landis Markley, John L. Crassidis. Fundamentals of Spacecraft Attitude Determination and Control, Springer, 2014.
Hanspeter Schaub, John L. Junkins. Analytical Mechanics of Space Systems, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2009.
Bong Wie. Space Vehicle Dynamics and Control, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2008.