Implementation of orbital attitude control laws on a nonholonomic platform

Equations of motion for a special system, intended to provide an experimental facility for application of spatial attitude control schemes, are studied in the modern setting of geometric mechanics. Imposed constraints and inherited symmetry existing in the system’s dynamics structure help to resolve the Lagrange–D’Alembert principle into a set of reduced-order equations of motion. it conditions are mimicked, permitting to evaluate feedback control algorithms for precise satellite manoeuvres in a laboratory situ but also to investigate stability issues due to complex rotational dynamics and interactions with flexible components. It is demonstrated that the same implications concerning gyro stability of the spatial system can be replicated as well on this prototype.