Limit-cycle bounds of a satellite attitude-control system

Attitude-control system propellant consumption is a major concern for one mode of long-term operation of the Skylab. In this mode the dynamic behavior of the inertial roll angle is described by a second-order nonlinear time-varying differential equation. The main result established in this paper is the following. If the reaction control system is of the form considered, then the roll angle exhibits a bounded behavior. The bounding cycle is described explicitly in terms of the system and control parameters.