Chaotic attitude motion of a magnetic rigid spacecraft in an elliptic orbit and its control

This paper deals with the chaotic attitude motion of a magnetic rigid spacecraft with internal damping in an elliptic orbit. The dynamical model of the spacecraft is established. The Melnikov analysis is carried out to prove the existence of a complicated nonwandering Cantor set. The dynamical behaviors are numerically investigated by means of time history, Poincare map, Lyapunov exponents and power spectrum. Numerical simulations demonstrate the chaotic motion of the system. The input-output feedback linearization method and its modified version are applied, respectively, to control the chaotic attitude motions to the given fixed point or periodic motion.