Future solar sail missions, such as NASA's Solar Polar Imager Vision, will require sails with dimensions on the order of 50-500 m. We are examining a square sail design with moving mass (trim control mass, TCM) and quadrant rotation primary actuators plus pulsed plasma thrusters (PPTs) at the mast tips for backup attitude control. Quadrant rotation is achieved via roll stabilizer bars (RSB) at the mast tips. At these sizes, given the gossamer nature of the sail supporting structures, flexible modes may be low enough to interact with the control system, especially as these actuators are located on the flexible structure itself and not on the rigid core. This paper develops a practical analysis of the flexible interactions using state-space systems and modal data from finite element models of the system. Torsion and bending of the masts during maneuvers could significantly affect the function of the actuators while activation of the membrane modes could adversely affect the thrust vector direction and magnitude. Analysis of the RSB and TCM dynamics for developing high-fidelity simulations is included.
AOCS Performance and Stability Validation for a 160-m Solar Sail with Control-Structure Interactions
2005
24 pages
Report
No indication
English
AOCS Performance and Stability Validation for Large Flexible Solar Sail Spacecraft
British Library Conference Proceedings | 2005
|AOCS DESIGN FOR A 160-M, 450-KG SOLAR SAIL SPACECRAFT OF THE SOLAR POLAR IMAGER MISSION
British Library Conference Proceedings | 2006
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