Inverse optimal stabilization of a rigid spacecraft

The authors present an approach for constructing optimal feedback control l aws for regulation of a rotating rigid spacecraft. They employ the inverse optimal control approach which circumvents the task of solving a Hamilton-J acobi equation and results in a controller optimal with respect to a meanin gful cost functional. The inverse optimality approach requires the knowledg e of a control Lyapunov function and a stabilizing control law of a particu lar form, For the spacecraft problem, they are both constructed using the m ethod of integrator backstepping. The authors give a characterization of (n onlinear) stability margins achieved with the inverse optimal control law.