Model-Free Adaptive Control for Attitude Stabilization of Earth-Pointing Spacecraft Using Magnetorquers

This paper presents an attitude stabilization algorithm for a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Earth-pointing spacecraft using magnetorquers as the only torque actuators and employing Model-Free Adaptive Control (MFAC) as the control algorithm. MFAC is a data-driven control algorithm that relies solely on input–output data from the plant. This paper validates the effectiveness of the proposed approach through numerical simulations in a specific case study. The simulations show that the proposed algorithm drives the spacecraft’s attitude to three-axis stabilization in the orbital frame from arbitrary initial tumbling conditions. The numerical study also shows that the proposed control algorithm outperforms a model-based Proportional–Derivative (PD) control in terms of pointing accuracy at the expense of higher energy consumption.