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Effect of Space Vehicle Structure Vibration on Control Moment Gyroscope DynamicsControl Moment Gyroscopes (CMGs) are used for non-propulsive attitude control of satellites and space stations, including the International Space Station (ISS). CMGs could be essential for future long duration space missions due to the fact that they help to save propellant. CMGs were successfully tested on the ground for many years, and have been successfully used on satellites. However, operations have shown that the CMG service life on the ISS is significantly shorter than predicted. Since the dynamic environment of the ISS differs greatly from the nominal environment of satellites, it was important to analyze how operations specific to the station (dockings and undockings, huge solar array motion, crew exercising, robotic operations, etc) can affect the CMG performance. This task became even more important since the first CMG failure onboard the ISS. The CMG failure resulted in the limitation of the attitude control capabilities, more propellant consumption, and additional operational issues. Therefore, the goal of this work was to find out how the vibrations of a space vehicle structure, caused by a variety of onboard operations, can affect the CMG dynamics and performance. The equations of CMG motion were derived and analyzed for the case when the gyro foundation can vibrate in any direction. The analysis was performed for unbalanced CMG gimbals to match the CMG configuration on ISS. The analysis showed that vehicle structure vibrations can amplify and significantly change the CMG motion if the gyro gimbals are unbalanced in flight. The resonance frequencies were found. It was shown that the resonance effect depends on the magnitude of gimbal imbalance, on the direction of a structure vibration, and on gimbal bearing friction. Computer modeling results of CMG dynamics affected by the external vibration are presented. The results can explain some of the CMG vibration telemetry observed on ISS. This work shows that balancing the CMG gimbals decreases the effect of vehicle structure vibration on CMGs. Additionally, the effect of external vibrations may also be decreased by increasing the gimbal bearing friction. With the suggested modifications there may be no need to lower the gimbal rates below the nominal design requirements as it is currently done on ISS. The conclusions of this work
Document ID
20080013406
Acquisition Source
Johnson Space Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Dobrinskaya, Tatiana
(NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Date Acquired
August 24, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2008
Subject Category
Spacecraft Design, Testing And Performance
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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