Chaotic pitch motion of an aerodynamically stabilized magnetic satellite in polar orbits

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the chaotic attitude dynamics of magnetic satellites with stabilizing panels. The pitch motion under the gravitational and restoring aerodynamic torques and small perturbations, namely, the magnetic torque and the aerodynamic damping, is considered. On the example of a CubeSat having an aerodynamic instability, it is demonstrated that the unperturbed phase space evolves with orbital altitude both quantitatively and qualitatively, forming different sets of homoclinic and heteroclinic trajectories. The Melnikov method is used to find the combinations of system parameters resulting in regular and chaotic motions. The occurrence of chaos is verified by means of Poincaré sections.