An evaluation of thermally-induced structural disturbances of spacecraft solar arrays

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