Attitude Dynamics of Small Satellites in Circular Near-Equatorial LEO/VLEO

This study deals with the attitude motion of magnetic axisymmetric satellite in near-equatorial circular LEO/VLEO under the joint action of the environmental torques, namely, gravitational, aerodynamic, and magnetic. The equations for the general case of the spatial attitude motion of a near-equatorial satellite with arbitrary oriented intrinsic magnetic moment are derived. In a special case, when the satellite has only a longitudinal component of the intrinsic magnetic moment, the attitude motion is separated into the unperturbed motion and the perturbations from the non-potential torques. A procedure for calculating and classifying the critical points of the dynamic potential of the unperturbed motion is proposed. The study provides an intuitive understanding of the possible attitude motion regimes of small magnetic axisymmetric aerodynamically stabilized satellites and demonstrates the influence of the main system parameters on the existence and stability of the critical points. Numerical simulations show that, in addition to regular attitude motion, chaotic regimes are also possible.