On the dynamics of deployment of an orbital structure with elastic elements

Abstract

The object to be studied is a spacecraft with a deployable pantograph structure as a solar-battery carrier. The objective of research is to design a mathematical model of this structure taking the elasticity of pantograph elements into account. The Lagrangian formalism is followed. To model the dynamic processes in the system, a software package has been developed, which can be adapted, if necessary, to study deployable structures of other types. The behavior of the structure during deployment, collapse, and redeployment under the action of various perturbations is modeled numerically. Plots illustrating the variation of characteristic variables are presented Introduction. Dynamics of reconfigurable systems is one of the promising and important areas of research in mechanics [1,2,5,[8][9][10][11]. Modern spacecraft incorporate elements that transform when in orbit (solar batteries, gravity-gradient booms, antennas, etc.). Such mechanical systems are delivered into orbit compactly packaged and then are deployed into the operational configuration.Issues of current importance in research of reconfigurable systems are minimization of deployment time and energy and the effect of reconfigurable structures on the motion and attitude of the spacecraft. Also, of vital importance is mass reduction for such systems. Their elements should be considered as elastic bodies.1. Mechanical Model. The object of study is a pantograph structure consisting of two connected parallelogram-type linkages (Fig. 1). The mechanical model is a reconfigurable structure with a pantograph-like deployment mechanism mounted on a rigid body.

Design and Deployment Analysis of Modular Deployable Structure for Large Antennas

“…θ i f i φ 1 ; φ 2 i 2; 3; 4; : : : ; 12 (14) By calculating the derivative of Eq. (14), the deployment angle velocities can then be obtained:…”

“…Gulyaev et al [12,13] analyzed the dynamic behavior of a large orbital deployable antenna. Dranovskii et al [14] designed a mathematical model for a deployable pantograph structure as a solar-battery carrier to analyze its deployment dynamics in orbit. Soykasap et al [15] presented a novel concept for a low-mass antenna that is used to measure terrestrial biomass levels from a spacecraft in a low Earth orbit.…”

Deployment analysis and optimization of a flexible deployable structure for large synthetic aperture radar antennas

“…These problems have gained a great deal of attention related to deployment analysis of deployable structures for space applications. [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] However, despite such effort, little attention has been given to deployment analysis of large SAR antenna considering flexibility, which is an important intrinsic property of such a large structure.…”

Attitude stabilization of the rotational axis of a carrying body by pendulum dampers

“…In this connection, the present paper looks into the attitude stabilization of the rotational axis of a PRB with pendulum dampers. Namely, steady motions of the system will be identified, it will be established whether these motions are stable, and the possibility of complete dampening of nutation with dampers will be examined.Closely related issues are considered in [15][16][17][18]. We will consider a damper consisting of two pairs of pendulums set onto an axis rigidly fixed to the PRB.…”

“…Closely related issues are considered in [15][16][17][18]. We will consider a damper consisting of two pairs of pendulums set onto an axis rigidly fixed to the PRB.…”