University of Kent (UK)
Date: September 29, 11:45 - 12:15 Room: Sala 3M
A single thruster attitude and de-orbital control method is proposed, capable of delivering a small spin stabilized probe with payload to the surface of an airless body such as the Moon. Nutation removal, attitude control and fast large angle maneuvers have been demonstrated using a single standard cold gas pulse width modulated attitude (PWM) control thruster, have been shown to be effective and feasible based on commercially available hardware. Maximum final impact angle due to drift and residual velocities was found to be less than 5 degrees and the maximum angle of attack to be 4 deg. The conventional 3-axis control would require many more thrusters, structure, fuel and control making it bulky. The single thruster concept minimises the mass requirement and thus cost of the mission, making the concept of small networked surface probes for extended science missions more viable. Experiments based on computer simulation have demonstrated that strict design and mission profile requirements can be fulfilled using the single thruster method.