629.78 Study of the stability of equilibrium positions of a CubeSat nanosatellite under the influence of aerodynamic and gravitational moments

Barinova E. V. (Самарский национальный исследовательский университет), Timbai I. A. (Самарский национальный исследовательский университет), Mironov E. (Самарский национальный исследовательский университет)

CUBESAT NANOSATELLITE, AERODYNAMIC MOMENT, GRAVITATIONAL MOMENT, ANGLE OF ATTACK, ANGLES OF PRECESSION, ANGLE OF PROPER ROTATION, STABILITY OF EQUILIBRIUM POSITION


doi: 10.18698/2309-3684-2025-2-82101


To perform many target missions, it is necessary to ensure a given orientation of the spacecraft in space. In the case of small spacecraft, due to low energy reserves, it is advisable to use passive or combined stabilization systems. An important issue is the determination of stable equilibrium positions relative to the center of mass of the space-craft. A feature of the dynamics of CubeSat nanosatellites is that the aerodynamic drag force depends on two orientation angles - the angle of attack and the angle of proper rotation, which is due to the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped. Also, due to the small size of nanosatellites, the effect of the aerodynamic moment is comparable to the effect of the gravitational moment for a larger range of altitudes compared to large-sized devices. This paper proposes an algorithm for the numerical and analytical determination of the equilibrium positions of a dynamically asymmetric CubeSat nanosatellite when the center of pressure is displaced from the center of mass along three axes of the body-fixed coordinate system. In addition, the developed algorithm makes it possible to take into account the presence of products of inertia in the body-fixed coordinate system, the axes of which are oriented along the building axes of the nanosatellite. Additionally, in this work, an algorithm for numerically studying the stability of the found equilibrium positions is proposed. The presented algorithms for determining the equilibrium positions and studying their stability make it possible to study uncontrolled motion under the influence of gravitational and aerodynamic moments for nanosatellites with various design parameters in a relatively short period of time. This work can be useful in the development of angular motion stabilization and control systems.


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Баринова Е.В., Тимбай И.А., Миронов Е. Численное исследование устойчивости положений равновесия наноспутника стандарта CubeSat под действием аэродинамического и гравитационного моментов. Математическое моделирование и численные методы, 2025, № 2, с. 82–101.


Исследование выполнено за счёт гранта Российского научного фонда № 23-67-10007, https://rscf.ru/project/23-67-10007/.


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