Use of External Torques for Desaturation of Reaction Wheels

Mashtakov, Yaroslav; Tkachev, S. S.; Ovchinnikov, M Y

doi:10.2514/1.g003328

Cited by 14 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…This method is shown to successfully avoid the accumulation of momentum and save RCS propellant with even a few degrees of tilting [12]. The concept of exploiting the SRP for WOL has been investigated for highly elliptical Keplerian orbit [13] and interplanetary travels [14], but in both cases, the solutions presented are coupled with the orbital motion and therefore last several weeks. During normal operations, the SADM is in charge of maintaining the arrays always facing the Sun.…”

Section: Coastingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thanks to (a) (b) Fig. 13 Results of WOL in a cruising arc (3), the commanded thrust is augmented to account for this misalignment. The trajectory comparison with respect to the case without WOL is displayed in Fig.…”

Section: Wol In Cruisingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Regarding the BETA strategy, the problem can be solved by shifting the gimbal angles trajectory of specific offset angles in such a way to bring ĝ nominally aligned with the vector linking the COM with the thruster position. The offset angles to add to (7) are then given by (13).…”

Section: Com Displacementmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Autonomous Wheel Off-Loading Strategies for Deep-Space CubeSats

Pizzetti

Rizza

Topputo

2022

Aerotec. Missili Spaz.

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Deep-space CubeSats missions require careful trade-offs on design drivers such as mass, volume, and cost, while ensuring autonomous operations. This work elaborates the possibility of off-loading the reaction wheels without the need of carrying a bulky and expensive reaction control system or the field-dependent magnetotorquers. The momentum accumulated along two body axes can be removed by either offsetting the main thruster with a gimbal mechanism or by tilting differentially the solar wings. The dumping on the third axis can be still accomplished by imposing a specific attitude trajectory with the motion of either the gimbal or the arrays drive mechanism. The M-Argo CubeSat is selected as case study to test the techniques along its deep-space trajectory. The strategies decision-making is autonomously carried out by a state machine. The off-loading during the cruising arcs employs the gimballed thruster and takes typically 3 h, granting a mass savings of more than 99% with respect to the usage of a reaction control system. The trajectory is shown to have negligible differences with respect to the nominal one, since the thrust is corrected accordingly. During the coasting arcs, the solar arrays are tilted and several hours are required, depending on the Sun direction and intensity, but the propellant is completely saved. Sensitivity analyses are also carried out on the initial angular momentum components and the center of mass displacement to check the robustness of the algorithms.

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Section: Coastingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Wol In Cruisingmentioning

confidence: 99%