A Nutation Damper for a Dual-Spin Spacecraft

This paper is concerned with a high-performance nutation damper for use in dual-spin spacecraft. The damper described here makes use of a wheel of uniform mass distribution. The wheel experiences torques which are produced by inertial forces. Damping and restoring (spring) torques are provided by means of a torsional arrangement built around the center of the wheel. The performance characteristics of the above nutation damper are evaluated by considering the small astronomy satellite (SAS-A) spacecraft parameters, and the results for an optimum design of the damper are presented. Finally, the result for the optimum performance is checked with the help of an approximate analysis.