Model and Dynamic Analysis of a Three-Body Tethered Satellite System in Three Dimensions

The three-body tethered satellite system is a new potential technology for the purposes of orbital transportation. In contrast to conventional orbit transfer methods, this system is expected to transport space supplies to a predetermined orbital altitude without consuming fuel; however, the unwanted libration resulting from the Coriolis force acting on moving subsatellites may induce tumbling within the system. In order to analyze the strongly coupled characteristics of the libration motion and the variable-length tethers, a six-DOF dynamic model of the system based on Newton’s law is established. By utilizing the dynamic equations and stability criterion for linear systems, three equilibrium configurations of the satellite system with two constant-length tethers are given. The coupling characteristics of the libration angles are analyzed based on mechanical features and simulations. The results demonstrate that part of the libration energy can transfer from out-of-plane motion to in-plane motion during out-of-plane libration, but not vice versa or when in-plane libration occurs alone. Furthermore, the dynamic characteristic of this system with a predesigned deployment strategy is surveyed. This investigation reveals that such a strategy can rapidly suppress the out-of-plane libration motion while maintaining purely sinusoidal oscillations in the in-plane motion.