Satellite attitude control using solar radiation pressure based on non-linear sliding mode control

The paper proposes the use of solar radiation pressure for satellite attitude control using non-linear sliding mode control (SMC). The system comprises a satellite with two-oppositely placed solar flaps. A non-linear SMC approach has been adopted to develop control law for suitably rotating the solar flaps to achieve desired satellite attitude performance. The detailed numerical simulation of the governing non-linear system equation of motion including the effects of various system parameters on the controller performance, establishes the feasibility of the proposed control strategy. The numerical simulation matches with the analytical results. Furthermore, the proposed controller is found to be robust against external disturbances and its performance is superior in comparison to feedback linearization control. Thus, the robustness of the proposed control strategy makes it attractive for future space applications.