Stability analysis and sun-tracking attitude control of spacecraft under solar radiation pressure

Abstract

In an interplanetary mission, the influence of solar radiation pressure (SRP) is a dominant disturbance in terms of the attitude control of a spacecraft, and a continuous disturbance may shorten a mission life time. On the other hand, it was observed that a spin axis of a spinning spacecraft under the SRP tracks the Sun direction, and this is called an attitude drift motion The objective of this study is to analyze the stability of a spin motion and an attitude drift motion of a spacecraft generally and quantitatively. This stability analysis enables Sun-tracking attitude control by using the attitude drift motion only with spin rate control.