Essentially Globally Asymptotically Stable Nutation Control Using a Single Reaction Wheel

Abstract

Launch-vehicle volume and payload geometry often prefer a spacecraft design based on spin stabilization about a minor principal axis, at least for a portion of the spacecraft lifetime. Active stabilization is required to maintain minor-axis spin in the presence of energy dissipation. Lyapunov stability theory is used to develop a globally stable control law using a single reaction wheel mounted transverse to the desired spin axis. This control law provides practical automatic recovery of desired spin from any initial state, which linearized analysis and design methods cannot, including recovery from spin about a major axis (flat spin). A family of control laws is derived that includes linear feedback from a single rate gyro and a wheel tachometer.