Physics-Informed Gaussian Process-Based Attitude Stabilization Control for Liquid-Filled Spacecraft

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Authors: Wei Zhang, Yanning Guo, Yuhan Liu, Xiaowei Zhang, Haichao Hong
Cited by: 1
References: 42

Abstract

This paper investigates the attitude stabilization problem for liquid-filled spacecraft. The problem is inherently challenging due to significant liquid sloshing and fuel consumption, which introduce nonlinear uncertainties and a time-varying center of mass. To address this issue, first, we establish the attitude dynamics for liquid-filled spacecraft based on the moving pulsating ball model. Then, an adaptive Physics-informed Gaussian Process Regression (PI-GPR)-based attitude stabilization strategy is pro posed, which leverages the angular momentum theorem to learn model uncertainties serving as semi-feedforward compensation. By modeling the angular momentum with GP with physics prior knowledge, the proposed method enhances the model interpretability and augments small-sample modeling efficacy. Furthermore, an adaptive updating law is introduced to estimate the shifting center of mass resulting from liquid slosh and fuel consumption. The rigorous theoretical proofs for the probabilistic Lyapunov stability and boundedness of the proposed closed-loop system are provided. Simulation study demonstrates the effectiveness and high performance of the proposed strategy.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Spacecraft Dynamics and Control Adaptive Control of Nonlinear Systems Space Satellite Systems and Control

Publication details

Journal / source
IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems
Publisher
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Volume
62
Pages
6153–6165
Publication date
1 January 2026