Multipulse precession of spinning spacecraft with flexible appendages

A multipulse precession scheme for spinners with large flexible appendages is described. By choosing the prescribed time delay between pulses as integer (or half integer) multiples of the several incommensurate modal periods it is possible to leave both central spinner and appendages in a final state of negligible nutation. Computer simulations illustrate the several schemes. The results indicate that the proposed method is relatively insensitive to parameter variations such as thruster and inertia uncertainties. Complete equations are presented, including a closed form solution for an important special case: the appendage plane contains the central body mass center.