Quaternion feedback control for gyroless target pointing of underactuated spacecraft

We consider a target pointing problem of a spinning spacecraft which has fewer control torques than the degrees of freedom to be controlled. In addition, we consider the failures of attitude sensors. To overcome such failure situations, we propose a quaternion feedback control law that utilizes geomagnetic field measurements as an error representation for control. The derived control law globally and asymptotically stabilizes the spacecraft about the underactuated spacecraft axis along the specified target direction in an inertial frame. Simulation was carried out and results are presented illustrating the efficacy of the proposed algorithm under the condition of measurement uncertainties and environmental disturbances.