Magnetic attitude control torque generation of a gravity gradient stabilized satellite

International Conference on Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering 2017

航空航天工程;机械制造

Suhadis, N.M.^1 ; Salleh, M.B.^1 ; Rajendran, P.^1

School of Aerospace Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Nibong Tebal, Penang

14300, Malaysia^1

关键词: Comparison study;    Geomagnetic fields;    Gravity gradients;    Low earth orbit(LEO);    Magnetic attitude controls;    Magnetic torquers;    Orbit inclination;    Satellite orbit;   

Others  :  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1757-899X/370/1/012032/pdf
DOI  :  10.1088/1757-899X/370/1/012032

学科分类：航空航天科学

来源: IOP

【 摘 要 】

Magnetic torquer is used to generate a magnetic dipole moment onboard satellites whereby a control torque for attitude control purposes is generated when it couples with the geomagnetic field. This technique has been considered very attractive for satellites operated in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) as the strength of the geomagnetic field is relatively high below the altitude of 1000 km. This paper presents the algorithm used to generate required magnetic dipole moment by 3 magnetic torquers mounted onboard a gravity gradient stabilized satellite operated at an altitude of 540 km with nadir pointing mission. As the geomagnetic field cannot be altered and its magnitude and direction vary with respect to the orbit altitude and inclination, a comparison study of attitude control torque generation performance with various orbit inclination is performed where the structured control algorithm is simulated for 13°, 33° and 53° orbit inclinations to see how the variation of the satellite orbit affects the satellite's attitude control torque generation. Results from simulation show that the higher orbit inclination generates optimum magnetic attitude control torque for accurate nadir pointing mission.