Abstract A breakthrough is made in the long outstanding problem of attitude stability of a rigid satellite in a circular orbit. The focus is on an equilibrium at which the linearized techniques are inconclusive and no Liapunov function is known. In this paper, the Hamiltonian for the attitude motion of the satellite is expanded about the equilibrium up to the terms of degree four. By a sequence of canonical transformations, the expansion is brought to a normal form. A region in the parameter space for which the equilibrium orientation is stable is demarcated by an application of a recent extension of KAM theory to the normal form of Hamiltonians. This approach resolves the question and opens the door for the stability analysis of higher order conservative systems, such as flexible satellites, not amenable to traditional tools.


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    Title :

    Attitude stability of rigid satellites via a normalized Hamiltonian


    Contributors:
    Marandi, S.R. (author) / Modi, V.J. (author)

    Published in:

    Acta Astronautica ; 19 , 4 ; 287-299


    Publication date :

    1989-01-19


    Size :

    13 pages




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English