Satellite rotation stability at a Mercurian type resonance

Abstract

We consider the satellite plane motion about the center of mass in a central Newtonian gravitational field in an elliptic orbit. This motion is described by a second-order differential equation known as the Beletskii equation. In the framework of the plane problem (under the assumption that the body vibrates in the unperturbed orbit plane), there exists a family of periodic solutions of the Beletskii equation near the 3: 2 resonance between the orbital revolution and axial rotation periods. A nonlinear stability analysis of these periodic solutions is carried out both in the presence of third- and fourth-order resonances and in their absence as well as on the boundaries of the stability regions in the first approximation. The problem is solved numerically. For fixed parameter values (the eccentricity of the center-of-mass orbit and the inertial parameter), the construction of a symplectic mapping of the equilibrium into itself is used to calculate the coefficients of the mapping generating function, which are further used to conclude whether the equilibrium is stable or not.