The objective of the thesis is to analyze the dynamics and controls of a solar sail operating on a Solar Storm Warning Mission. The Solar Storm Warning Mission was chosen for analysis because it has a high priority mission to provide data on solar storm activity. Solar storms can cause blackouts in power grids and disable satellites that are currently orbiting the Earth. A payload extends from the sailcraft by four tethers attached near the ends of the booms to provide stability. The tether length that produced a stable sailcraft was equal to or greater than 84.31 meters. A parametric study was completed to examine the effects of the roll, pitch, and yaw disturbances on the sailcraft dynamics. The roll and pitch coupling (in the equations of motion) had a large effect on the sailcraft using short tether lengths, but had a much smaller effect at the longer tether lengths of 84.31 meters or more. Thrusters were placed at the ends of the sail booms to provide dampening to the sailcraft. Full-state feedback (pole placement) provided settling times and number of maneuvers for each specific thruster/tether length combination. If the disturbances (roll, pitch, and yaw) expected to impact the sailcraft are known, an ideal tether length can be found as a function of the settling time and number of maneuvers. For example, the 125 mN thruster requires a tether length of approximately 250 meters to provide the most maneuvers for any disturbance of less than twenty degrees.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NCSU/oai:NCSU:etd-11022007-150449 |
| Date | 29 November 2007 |
| Creators | Hays, Scott |
| Contributors | Dr. Larry Silverberg, Dr. Fred DeJarnette, Dr. Andre Mazzoleni |
| Publisher | NCSU |
| Source Sets | North Carolina State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/theses/available/etd-11022007-150449/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dis sertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to NC State University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
Page generated in 0.0116 seconds