Attitude tracking control of spacecraft with preset‐time preset‐bounded convergence

Abstract This article addresses the issue of attitude tracking control of rigid spacecraft in the existence of bounded external disturbances. By introducing a smooth time‐varying scaling function, a preset‐time sliding mode surface is designed. Then, a nonsingular and continuous preset‐time preset‐bounded attitude tracking control scheme is developed. The distinctive feature of the present control law is that the size of the convergence region and the settling time can be prescribed a priori. In addition, the proposed control scheme exhibits superiority in reducing the magnitude of the applied control torques and saving energy. At last the feasibility of the derived control protocol is illustrated by numerical simulations including a comparative example.