Backstepping-Based Steering Control for Spacecraft Attitude Control Using Two-Skewed Control Moment Gyroscopes

Numerous control methods that use two reaction wheels have been proposed for the underactuated control problem. However, few studies have applied two single-gimbal control moment gyroscopes (SGCMGs) to the three-axis attitude control problem. In this study, under the assumption that the total initial angular momentum is zero, a steering control law for the three-axis attitude maneuvers of a spacecraft with an array of two-skewed SGCMGs is designed using the backstepping technique without setting a constraint on the range of gimbal angles. The spacecraft attitude is expressed in terms of the [Formula: see text] parameters, which are suitable for the underactuated attitude control problem. The control gains are appropriately chosen to guarantee controller stability. The proposed steering control law is validated through numerical simulations. The results show that the proposed steering control law can achieve a shorter settling time than that obtained from a control law with a constraint on the range of gimbal angles.