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Stability of rotorcraft for interplanetary space flight

Publication ,  Journal Article
Gibbs, SC; Warren, JE; Wilkie, WK; Dowell, EH
Published in: Annual Forum Proceedings - AHS International
January 1, 2014

NASA is currently exploring propellantless spacecraft propulsion technologies required to enable missions ranging from orbital debris capture and removal to station keeping in unstable locations in space to deep space exploration. In this paper we explore the stability of a particular propellantless spacecraft, a spinning, helicopter-like solar sail. We demonstrate the possibility of an instability due to the coupling between the structural dynamics and the solar radiation forcing using a nonlinear model. We show that our model reproduces previously published results and compares well with simulations conducted using a finite element simulation. In addition the paper explores the stability of a proposed spinning solar sail during deployment and identifies critical combinations of spin rate and lengths that increase the possibility of an instability arising. © 2014 by the American Helicopter Society International, Inc. All rights reserved.

Duke Scholars

Published In

Annual Forum Proceedings - AHS International

ISSN

1552-2938

Publication Date

January 1, 2014

Volume

1

Start / End Page

471 / 479
 

Citation

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Gibbs, S. C., Warren, J. E., Wilkie, W. K., & Dowell, E. H. (2014). Stability of rotorcraft for interplanetary space flight. Annual Forum Proceedings - AHS International, 1, 471–479.
Gibbs, S. C., J. E. Warren, W. K. Wilkie, and E. H. Dowell. “Stability of rotorcraft for interplanetary space flight.” Annual Forum Proceedings - AHS International 1 (January 1, 2014): 471–79.
Gibbs SC, Warren JE, Wilkie WK, Dowell EH. Stability of rotorcraft for interplanetary space flight. Annual Forum Proceedings - AHS International. 2014 Jan 1;1:471–9.
Gibbs, S. C., et al. “Stability of rotorcraft for interplanetary space flight.” Annual Forum Proceedings - AHS International, vol. 1, Jan. 2014, pp. 471–79.
Gibbs SC, Warren JE, Wilkie WK, Dowell EH. Stability of rotorcraft for interplanetary space flight. Annual Forum Proceedings - AHS International. 2014 Jan 1;1:471–479.

Published In

Annual Forum Proceedings - AHS International

ISSN

1552-2938

Publication Date

January 1, 2014

Volume

1

Start / End Page

471 / 479