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Large Angle Reorientation of a Solar Sail Using Gimballed Mass Control

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Abstract

This paper proposes a control strategy for the large angle reorientation of a solar sail equipped with a gimballed mass. The algorithm consists of a first stage that manipulates the gimbal angle in order to minimize the attitude error about a single principal axis. Once certain termination conditions are reached, a regulator is employed that selects a single gimbal angle for minimizing both the residual attitude error concomitantly with the body rate. Because the force due to the specular reflection of radiation is always directed along a reflector’s surface normal, this form of thrust vector control cannot generate torques about an axis normal to the plane of the sail. Thus, in order to achieve three-axis control authority a 1-2-1 or 2-1-2 sequence of rotations about principal axes is performed. The control algorithm is implemented directly in-line with the nonlinear equations of motion and key performance characteristics are identified.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, UC Davis, One Shields Ave, Davis, CA, 95616, USA

    E. Sperber, B. Fu & F. O. Eke

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  1. E. Sperber
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  2. B. Fu
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  3. F. O. Eke
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Correspondence to E. Sperber.

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Sperber, E., Fu, B. & Eke, F.O. Large Angle Reorientation of a Solar Sail Using Gimballed Mass Control. J of Astronaut Sci 63, 103–123 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40295-016-0085-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40295-016-0085-1

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