Abstract: According to the requirements of modern spacecraft control,this paper presents a hierarchical intelligent adaptive control system based on the description of plant feature model knowledge.First,the theorem on the equivalent low order time variable model of high order plant and the theorem on general PD feedback compensation are derived.Then the basic design method of the hierarchical intellitgent adaptive controller is introduced.Finally,the intelligent adaptive control method is applied to attitude control of a type spacecraft with deploying the solar panels.The simulation result shows that the intelligent adaptive control method presented is effective and feasible.