Analysis of Dynamics and Control During the Deployment of an Annular Tether Group of Spacecraft

Abstract: The article considers a method for forming a rotating tether group of small spacecraft in the form of a regular polygon. To create an external torque acting on the entire system as a whole, low-thrust engines are used, and the directions of the reactive forces are unchanged in the coordinate systems associated with the spacecraft. The release of the cables is controlled by measuring their length and speed in accordance with the nominal program, which assumes that the mechanisms of the release of the cables work only for their braking. The nominal program is built according to a simplified model of the system’s motion, built using the Lagrange equations. The feasibility of the deployment program is checked using a more complete model of the spatial motion of the system, written in a geocentric fixed coordinate system and taking into account the extensibility of the cables, the one-sidedness of the mechanical links corresponding to them, the operation of the control system, disturbances associated with the initial conditions of motion, etc. A more complete model of motion takes into account the motion of space vehicles relative to their centers of mass as solid bodies of finite dimensions, which leads to perturbations in the directions of action of reactive forces. Numerical examples are given of the deployment of ring tether groups of small spacecraft in the form of polygons with up to seven vertices, inclusive, under the action of disturbances.