Model-Free and Real-Time Attitude Stabilization of Satellites and Spacecraft via Extremum Seeking for Vibrational Stabilization Approach

The problem of attitude stabilization for satellites and spacecraft is inherently challenging due to model uncertainties, nonlinear dynamics, damping effects, and external disturbances in the space environment. Traditional model-based control strategies often require accurate dynamic models and precise environmental characterization, which are difficult to obtain or maintain in real-world missions. As a promising alternative, extremum seeking control (ESC) is a model-free, real-time feedback method that autonomously drives a dynamical system toward the extremum of an objective function using only its measurements, without requiring a priori knowledge of its mathematical expression. In our recent work, we introduced a novel ESC for vibrational stabilization (ESC-VS) approach, which applies to mechanical systems. Furthermore, we introduced ESC-VS to a class of rigid body dynamics arising from Newtonian or Euler-Lagrange representations. In this paper, we extend the ESC-VS approach to investigate further its applicability and effectiveness in dealing with spacecraft attitude control governed by Euler’s rigid-body equations. We demonstrate that the proposed ESC successfully stabilizes desired attitudes, including unstable equilibrium orientations, under nonlinear dynamics, damping, coupling effects, and external disturbances. We also conduct a comparative study with existing ESC methods for rigid-body attitude stabilization to evaluate control effort, robustness, and convergence performance. Simulation results demonstrated the controller’s ability to achieve fast convergence and robustness, highlighting its potential for deployment in real-time space systems without requiring detailed dynamic models or extensive tuning.