Coupled attitude–orbit dynamics and control for displaced solar orbits

The paper discusses the coupled attitude–orbit dynamics of a solar sail. The equilibrium point of the coupled dynamical equations is obtained by designing the inertia of the sail. The stability of the equilibrium is analyzed through a linearization. It is found that the stability of the coupled equilibrium is determined by the stability of the attitude and orbital equilibrium point, respectively. For the sail discussed in this paper, the stability of the orbital equilibrium determines the stability of coupled system since the attitude is always marginally stable. Several numerical examples are employed to validate the conclusions. For unstable displaced orbits, active control is employed to stabilize the attitude and orbit. The results show that a small control torque can stabilize both the attitude and orbit.