Effects of Flexibility on Stability

Abstract

We are interested in the attitude of the space vehicle with respect to a rotating reference frame. For a gravity stabilized vehicle this re ference will be the orbital frame with one axis per pendicular to the plane of the orbit $$ and a second axis aligned with the local vertical, $$ (Fig. 1). For satellites spinning in free-space, the reference frame will have a constant angular velocity equal to the nominal angular velocity of the system.