Dynamics Analysis of Weathercock like Passive Sun-oriented Control Using Solar Pressure

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel passive sun-oriented control using the solar radiation pressure torque. Satellites that solar array panels are allocated as an umbrella is assumed. The top of the umbrella is oriented to the sun direction by the sun pressure and its weathercock stability. In order to dump the oscillation, a reflectance control device is attached on the solar array panels. The method realizes the sun-oriented without any other attitude control devises in the satellite. The availability of the method is evaluated in case of a solar-sail type spacecraft, a 50cm-class LEO satellite, and a 1U CubeSat by numerical simulations. Furthermore, a combination of the proposed control and the other passive attitude control is discussed.