The attitude stability of a class of spinning flexible spacecraft in a force-free environment is analyzed. The spacecraft is modeled as a rigid core having attached to it a flexible appendage idealized as a collection of elastically interconnected particles. Liapunov stability theorems are employed with the Hamiltonian of the system, constrained through the angular momentum integral so as to admit complete damping, used as a testing function. The Hamiltonian is written in terms of modal coordinates as interpreted by the hybrid coordinate formulation, thus allowing truncation to a level amenable to literal stability analysis. Testing functions are constructed for a spacecraft with an arbitrary (discretized) appendage, and closed form stability criteria are generated for the first mode of a restricted appendage model lying in a plane which contains the center of mass and is orthogonal to the spin axis. The criteria are (except for idealized cases on the stability boundary line in the parameter space) both necessary and sufficient for stability for any spacecraft characterized by the planar appendage model, such as a spacecraft containing solar panels and/or radial booms.


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    Title :

    Liapunov stability analysis of spinning flexible spacecraft.


    Contributors:
    Barbera, F. J. (author) / Likins, P. (author)

    Published in:

    Publication date :

    1973-04-01


    Type of media :

    Miscellaneous


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English


    Keywords :


    Liapunov stability analysis of spinning flexible spacecraft.

    BARBERA, F. J. / LIKINS, P. | AIAA | 1973




    Distributed Control of Spinning Flexible Spacecraft

    L. Meirovitch / H.F. VanLandingham / H. Oz | AIAA | 1979