Attitude Dynamics of Spinning Solar Sail “IKAROS” Considering Thruster Plume

Abstract

In this paper, the attitude dynamics of IKAROS, which is spinning solar sail, are presented. The first mode model of out-of-plane sail deformation (FMM) and multi-particle model (MPM) are introduced to analyze the oscillatory motion of the spinning solar sail. Three oscillation modes are derived from the FMM. They are caused by the nutation motion of the main body, as well as the nutation motion and the out-of-plane oscillation of the sail. The precise attitude motion after sail deployment and reorientation using thrusters is calculated using the MPM considering thruster plume. The IKAROS flight data of the nutation angular velocities of the main body after sail deployment or reorientation using thrusters are nearly equal to the analytical data found using the FMM and MPM.