Bifurcations in the attitude dynamics of a spacecraft in a gravity field

A normalized averaged (integrable) Hamiltonian approximation is used to study the attitude dynamics of a rigid body satellite in a gravity field, with an emphasis on bifurcations. The phase portrait is represented in a Mercator map and on a 3D sphere. Pitchfork bifurcations and degeneracies (a dense set of equilibria) are found.

► A normalized averaged (integrable) Hamiltonian approximation is used to study the attitude dynamics of a rigid body satellite in a gravity field.
► The phase portrait is represented in a Mercator map and on a 3D sphere. Pitchfork bifurcations and degeneracies are found.
► Visualization techniques have been shown to be very useful for analyzing the problem.
► We found the bifurcations as well as two degenerate cases, that is, cases in which there are infinite equilibria.