AAS 97-178

THERMALLY-INDUCED ATTITUDE DYNAMICS OF A SPACECRAFT WITH A FLEXIBLE BOOM

J. D. Johnston and E. A. Thornton, University of Virginia

Abstract

Spacecraft have experience attitude disturbances as a result of thermally-induced structural motions since the early days of the space program. Thermally-induced deformations of relatively flexible appendages such as booms, antennae, and solar arrays may result in significant disturbance torques reacting on the main body of a spacecraft. Examples of recent spacecraft experiencing thermally-induced attitude disturbances include the Hubble Space Telescope, the Ulysses spacecraft and the REX-II satellite. This paper investigates attitude dynamics of a simple spacecraft incorporating the effects of a flexible boom undergoing thermally-induced vibrations.