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Controlling the attitude and two flexure-modes of a flexible satellite
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 July 2016
Extract
Many space satellites consist of a pair of highly-flexible solar panels attached to a relatively rigid centre-body, the recently launched CTS is a good example. The panels supply electrical power to the communications equipment and attitude sensors which are usually mounted on the centre-body. It would appear that in the current generation of vehicles the flexure of the panels does not degrade the quality of the attitude control. This may not be so, however, in the next generation of satellites which will of necessity carry much larger solar panels. If the same high pointing accuracy is to be maintained in these vehicles and problems due to structural damage are to be avoided, then the flexure of the panels will have to be controlled.
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- Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 1977
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