Dynamic spacecraft simulators are becoming a widespread tool to enable effective on-ground verification of the attitude determination and control subsystem (ADCS). In such facilities, the on-orbit rotational dynamics shall be simulated, thereby requiring minimization of the external torques acting on the satellite mock-up. Gravity torque is often the largest among the disturbances, and an automatic procedure for balancing is usually foreseen in such facilities as it is significantly faster and more accurate than manual methods. In this note, we present an automatic balancing technique which combines mechanical and magnetic actuation by the joint use of sliding masses and magnetorquers. A feedback control is employed for in-plane balancing in which the proportional and integral actions are provided by moving the masses, while the derivative action is provided by the magnetorquers. Compared to an earlier implementation by the authors relying on shifting masses only, the novel approach is shown to reduce the in-plane unbalance by an additional 45% on average.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.