Attitude Stability of an Orbiting Satellite Containing Flexible Antennas and Spinning Rotors.
Abstract
This study considers the attitude stability of a gyrostat satellite containing flexible antennas, in which any, or all, of the rotors or antennas may be misaligned with the main body principal axes. The problem is formulated in general for any number of rigid, symmetrical, spinning rotors which are fixed relative to the body and for any number of antennas, modeled as rigid rods connected by torsional springs. The stability analysis is based on the Liapunov direct method, using the Hamiltonian as the Liapunov function. Examples are presented for a gravity-stabilized satellite containing one constant-speed rotor and two antennas of two rods each. The antenna misalignment and motion is restricted to the xz-plane. Results show that for a rotor misalignment, the largest deviation from the position defined by the body principal axes aligning with the orbital axes occurs when the misalignment is toward the orbit tangent. Misalignment of the antennas has no effect on the body equilibrium position except when the rotor was also misaligned. In that case, the body equilibrium angles were reduced. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 1976
- Accession Number
- ADA034761
Entities
People
- Phillip Eugene Sanders
Organizations
- Air Force Institute of Technology