In gravitational field of fixed particle, mass center of unsymmetrical rigid body can move on circular orbit centered at particle while one of centroidal principal axes of inertia of body remains normal to plane of this orbit; at same time, second centroidal principal axis can either rotate relative to line joining particle to mass center of body, or it can oscillate about this line as mean position; paper examines how inclusion of symmetrical rotor affects stability of orbiting body; procedure for testing stability of motions under consideration is developed, and used to examine number of cases; results show that light, low-speed rotors can act either as stabilizers or destabilizers.
Effect of rotor on attitude stability of satellite in circular orbit
AIAA J
AIAA Journal ; 3 , n 5
1965
5 pages
Article (Journal)
English
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