Abstract: The present invention provides a method for the attitude control of satellites in elliptic orbits or satellites initially placed in circular orbits perturbed to elliptic orbits due to environmental disturbances. The method relies on the application of solar radiation pressure to provide the desired torque for the satellite attitude control. The satellite is equipped with two-oppositely placed light-weight solar panels extending away from the satellite along a predetermined direction (satellite body fixed Y-axis). By rotating one of these solar panels or both of them through desired angles about their axis using the respective driver motors as per the simple open-loop control law, the torque about the satellite axis is developed to achieve the desired attitude performance.