When the final Skylab mission was completed in 1974, the onboard systems were used to maneuver the vehicle to a gravity gradient equilibrium attitude and were then shut down. Parked in this storage attitude, the vehicle was left undisturbed until March 1978 when contact was reestablished and the control systems were reactivated. During the intervening four years, the vehicle was subjected to subtle environmental torques which caused the vehicle to gradually progress from its initial stable state to a very dynamic condition just prior to the resumption of control. The paper deals with the dynamics of this process, including the analyses and simulations which were made to explain the motion and enable the planning of the reactivation process. The complementary roles of both numerical integration and closed-form analysis are demonstrated. Flight data obtained in the spring of 1978 are presented which support the analytical and simulation results.


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    Title :

    Uncontrolled dynamics of the Skylab vehicle - Comparison of simulation, theory and flight data


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    Aerospace Sciences Meeting ; 1980 ; Pasadena, CA


    Publication date :

    1980-01-01


    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English


    Keywords :



    Uncontrolled Dynamics of the Skylab Vehicle

    H.J. Buchanan / M.S. Hopkins / Z.J. Galaboff | AIAA | 1981