This paper proposes a new methodology for solar-sail attitude control that uses only momentum wheels. Different from conventional solar sails packaged in a central hub, the sailcraft is deployed in the direction of one side of the storage. In this single-wing configuration, the offset between the center of mass (c.m.) and center of pressure (c.p.) is large and lies in the sail plane. When specular reflection is dominant, solar-radiation-pressure (SRP) force vector points in the out-of-plane direction, thus causing an in-plane SRP torque orthogonal to the c.m./c.p. offset vector. Therefore, by placing a bias momentum in the c.m./c.p. direction, the sailcraft keeps rotating in the same plane while maintaining its orientation relative to the sun. Analysis reveals that the attitude motion of the one-winged momentum-biased solar sail is basically unstable, but the system can be stabilized in a neutral manner through minor control of the bias momentum. Furthermore, adding another control moment in the out-of-plane direction enables asymptotic stability. Control in the remaining in-plane direction makes it possible to avoid wheel saturation. Numerical simulations demonstrate that both attitude maintenance and maneuver can be performed and that the controller is robust to parameter errors.
One-Winged Momentum-Biased Solar Sail: A New Methodology for Propellantless Attitude Control
Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics ; 46 , 7 ; 1331-1347
2023-02-22
17 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
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