対称スピン衛星のウォブル

抄録

In recent years accuracy requirement for satellite attitude control system is getting increasingly stringent and wobble of a spinning satellite has received attention.
In this paper attitude dynamics of an axisymmetric spinning satellite is analyzed and the beat of nutation and wobble is found to exist.
A wobble reducer composed of two movable masses is proposed. Canadian communication satellites adopted a wobble reducer composed of three masses. The reduction of mass number from three to two contributes to the reduction of weight and the simplification of mass control logic. The possibility of wobble elimination using this wobble reducer is shown theoretically.
Computer simulation is conducted and the transient attitude stability is confirmed when the wobble reducer together with a dash-pot-type nutation damper is used even if the mass of the nutation damper moves in a way unfavourable to dynamic balance.
An experiment using a spherical-air-bearingsupported satellite model and mini-computer was carried out. The result of the experiment confirmed the attitude dynamics analysis including wobble and nutation. The performance of the wobble reducer was also confirmed through the experiment.