Stabilization analysis and algorithm refactoring of underactuated small satellite using two wheels

This paper studied the in-orbit life extension problem for a biased momentum small satellite which uses reaction wheels as control actuator. Without changing the system architecture, the situation of two wheels failure was discussed. The six different cases of two wheels failure were categorized in three modes according the different directions of the remained angular momentum. The stability was analyzed and the reconfiguration algorithm was studied theoretically for each mode. A joint control method using switch magnetorquers and the remained reaction wheels was proposed for the situation with biased angular momentum on pitch axis, which could improve the in-orbit lifetime effectively. Taking the case that the X and S wheel fail for example, the reconfiguration algorithm was discussed from the point of view of engineering implementation and the simulation results proved the efficiency of the joint control scheme.