Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-wg55d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-08T15:37:45.850Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Attitude stabilisation of the Geos-C spacecraft

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2016

V. L. Pisacane  and
J. M. Whisnant
V. L. Pisacane
Affiliation:
The Johns Hopkins UniversityApplied Physics Laboratory Silver Spring, Maryland
J. M. Whisnant
Affiliation:
The Johns Hopkins UniversityApplied Physics Laboratory Silver Spring, Maryland
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

GEOS-C will be the third of a series of spacecraft designed for the National Geodetic Satellite Programme. The two earlier and successful spacecraft were designated GEOS-I and II. In these, geocentric stabilisation was acheived to optimise the usage of the radiated and reflected radio and optical power of the geodetic observations. It was the atmospheric attenuation of the optical beacons, by which the spacecraft could be photographed against a star background, which imposed the accuracy requirement of earth pointing to within 5°. Descriptions as well as performance analyses of these attitude control systems have been published. In each, the proper mass distribution was obtained through an end mass on a de Havilland extendible boom. Since initial misorientation and perturbing torques induce motion about the equilibrium orientation in a gravity-gradient system, a mechanism for energy dissipation is necessary. A Magnetically Anchored Eddy Current Damper was used for this purpose. It consists of a magnet assembly that is free to lock onto the geomagnetic field and rotate freely within a conducting spherical shell. Relative motion of the two produces eddy currents in the conductor which in turn impede the relative motion.

Type
Technical notes
Information
The Aeronautical Journal , Volume 77 , Issue 753 , September 1973 , pp. 465 - 470
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 1973 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

Supervisor, Theory Project, Space Analysis and Computation Group.

†

Mathematician, Space Analysis and Computation Group.

References

1. Pisacane, V. L., Pardoe, P. P. and HOOK, B. J. Stabilisation System Analyses and Performance of the GEOS-A Gravity-Gradient Satellite (Explorer XXIX). Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, Vol 4, No 12, pp 1623–1630, December 1967.Google Scholar
2. Whisnant, J. M., Waszkiewicz, P. R. and Pisacane, V. L. Attitude Performance of the GEOS-II Gravity-Gradient Spacecraft. Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, Vol 6, No 12, pp 1379–1384, December 1969.Google Scholar
3. Pisacane, L., Pardoe, P. and Whisnant, M. Simulation of the Attitude Stabilisation of the DODGE Spacecraft with Time-Lag Magnetic Damping. Proceedings of the XVIII International Astronautical Congress (Belgrade 1967), Pergamon Press, London, pp 437–445, 1968.Google Scholar
4. Pardoe, P. P. A description of the digital attitude simulation. Applied Physics Laboratory Report TG 964, February 1968.Google Scholar
5. Jensen, D. C. and Cain, J. C. An Interim Geomagnetic Field. Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol 67, No 9, pp 3568, August 1962.Google Scholar
6. Heuring, F. T. The Analytical Description of the Geomagnetic Field at Satellite Altitudes. Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol 69, No 23, pp 4959–4968, December 1964.Google Scholar
7. Whisnant, J. M. and Anand, D. K. Roll Resonance for a Gravity-Gradient Satellite. Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, Vol 5, No 6, pp 743–744, June 1968.Google Scholar