Electrodynamic stabilization of artificial earth satellites in the König coordinate system

Abstract

An artificial Earth satellite in a circular equatorial orbit is considered. We analyze the pos sibility of a satellite's three axis stabilization in the König coordinate system using an electrodynamic control system exploiting Lorentz and magnetic control torques. Conditions allowing the electromag netic control to solve the problem for a gravitational torque disturbance are obtained. In the nonlinear formulation, sufficient conditions for the asymptotic stability of the satellite equilibrium position are obtained.