Propellantless spin-up of tethered or electromagnetically
coupled sparse apertures

Raymond J. Sedwick; Samuel A. Schweighart

doi:10.1117/12.460559

18 December 2002 Propellantless spin-up of tethered or electromagnetically coupled sparse apertures

Raymond J. Sedwick, Samuel A. Schweighart

Proceedings Volume 4849, Highly Innovative Space Telescope Concepts; (2002) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.460559
Event: Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation, 2002, Waikoloa, Hawai'i, United States

Abstract

Sparse aperture arrays use rotation as a method of filling the u-v plane for interferometric image construction. Tethers and electromagnetic coupling are two methods that have been proposed to hold these arrays of spacecraft in formation without the use of on-board propellant. Tethers and electromagnetic coupling can also be used to tailor the aperture velocity profile and re-target the array without any propellant usage. In the case of the electromagnetic coupling, complete control of all relative degrees of freedom within an array can be achieved. This paper will describe these two methods and demonstrate how they can be used to control the angular momentum of the arrays while deployed. The dynamics of each method are explained with examples to demonstrate performance.

Citation Download Citation

Raymond J. Sedwick and Samuel A. Schweighart "Propellantless spin-up of tethered or electromagnetically coupled sparse apertures", Proc. SPIE 4849, Highly Innovative Space Telescope Concepts, (18 December 2002); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.460559

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