A new approach to the solution of free rigid body motion for attitude maneuvers

A Hamiltonian formulation of free rigid body motion defined on the Special Unitary Group SU(2) is used to integrate the system to obtain a convenient quaternion representation for attitude engineering applications. Novel content of this paper concerns applying a modern approach, based on geometric control theory to obtain the kinematic solution in an elegant and compact form. Moreover, this integration leads to an attitude representation which is not Euler-angle-like, thus enhancing its applicability (e.g. to attitude motion design).