Title :
An evaluation of thermally-induced structural disturbances of spacecraft solar arrays
Author :
Johnston, John D. ; Thornton, Earl A.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Mech. Aerosp. & Nucl. Eng., Virginia Univ., Charlottesville, VA, USA
Abstract :
Spacecraft have experienced attitude disturbances as a result of thermally-induced motions of flexible appendages for over 30 years. Thermally-induced deformations of appendages such as deployable booms and solar arrays may result in significant disturbance torques. These effects lead to a decrease in pointing accuracy, an increase in pointing jitter and in extreme cases may affect the stability of the entire spacecraft. Examples of recent satellites whose performance has been degraded by thermally-induced structural disturbances are the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS). This paper presents an evaluation of thermally-induced structural disturbances of solar arrays, including: (1) identification of disturbances sources and classifications; (2) assessment of the susceptibility of different types of solar array to the disturbances; and (3) discussion of potential methods for mitigating the effects of the disturbances
Keywords :
photovoltaic power systems; solar cell arrays; solar cells; space vehicle power plants; thermal analysis; Atmosphere Research Satellite; Hubble Space Telescope; attitude disturbances; disturbances sources; mitigation methods; pointing accuracy; pointing jitter; spacecraft solar arrays; spacecraft stability; susceptibility; thermally-induced motions; thermally-induced structural disturbances; Aerospace engineering; Antenna arrays; Jitter; Satellites; Space heating; Space vehicles; Telescopes; Temperature; Thermal force; Thermal loading;
Conference_Titel :
Energy Conversion Engineering Conference, 1996. IECEC 96., Proceedings of the 31st Intersociety
Conference_Location :
Washington, DC
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-3547-3
DOI :
10.1109/IECEC.1996.552835
