Passive stabilization of satellites by gravity gradient

The stabilization of a rigid satellite by gravity gradient was studied. The Hamiltonian formalism to get the equations of motion was used. The stability analysis was performed by two different techniques: the Liapunov's direct method and the linearization of the equations of motion for small angles. In order to accomplish the computer simulations, to obtain practical results, a specific geometry for the satellite was used. From these simulations, equipotential curves that provide the bounds of libration were obtained. A brief analysis of the perturbations working on the system was also made.