Dynamics of spacecraft due to elastic ring antenna deployment

This research deals with the study the dynamics of the spacecraft with the deployed flexible ring antenna. The deployment is performed after placing the spacecraft into orbit and completion of the preliminary damping by a special jet-propelled system, and after uncaging the gyros of the stabilization system. Primarily the antenna is a pre-stressed tape wound on a special drum. When the drum starts deploying the tape, it takes the shape of an elastic ring of variable diameter. The objective of the study is the mechanical and computational modelling of the spacecraft dynamics. The equations of motion are derived with the use of the Eulerian-Lagrangian formalism with the help of Mathematica 5©. Numerical simulations of the operational mode of the system are conducted. Numerical results indicate that the system used for attitude stabilization ensures the shape of the deployed design and prescribed accuracy of the orientation. Simulation results are presented for the spacecraft model in order to show the effectiveness of the spacecraft and deployment process stabilization.