We provide a Lyapunov-based design of decentralized control laws that stabilize relative equilibria in a model of self-propelled particles that travel on the surface of a sphere. Such control laws have applications in planetary-scale mobile sensing networks in air, sea, and space. Relative equilibria of the closed-loop model include formations in which all of the particles travel around a common circular trajectory. Particle interaction can be time-invariant or time-varying and directed or undirected. The algorithm for time-invariant and undirected particle interaction uses a gradient-like control induced from the associated Laplacian matrix. The algorithm for time-varying and directed interaction replaces average quantities in the control law with dynamic consensus variables. An augmented Laplacian algorithm is also proposed to stabilize symmetric circular formations. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.