Stability and ground experiments of a spinning triangular tethered satellite formation on a low earth orbit

Abstract

This paper studies the spinning stability of a triangular tethered satellite formation that flies on a low earth orbit. The spinning around the center of mass at a constant angular rate gives rise to a periodic motion in the non-inertial orbital frame. Floquet theory is used to analyze the stability of the periodic motion. A dynamic similarity between the on-orbit dynamics and ground experimental models is built to construct an equivalent ground experiment to verify the stability analysis. The analytical and experimental results show that a stable periodic motion can be guaranteed if the spinning angular rate of the system exceeds a critical value.