Stability and control of radial deployment of electric solar wind sail

The paper studies the stability and control of radial deployment an electric solar wind sail with consideration high-order modes elastic tethers. is modeled by combining flexible tether dynamics, rigid-body dynamics central spacecraft, flexible-rigid kinematic coupling. process nodal position finite element method in arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian framework. A symplectic-type implicit Runge–Kutta integration proposed to solve resulting differential–algebraic equation. proportional–derivative strategy applied stabilize spacecraft’s attitudes ensure tethers’ stable a constant spinning rate. results show requires thrust at remote units tangential direction counterbalance Coriolis forces acting on tethers deploy radially successfully. parametric analysis shows speed magnitude significantly impacts libration, which opens possibility successful using optimal control. Finally, that advantageous due isolated mechanism, jammed can be from affecting rest