METHOD FOR REORIENTATING AND CONTROLLING THE THRUST OF A ROTATING SPACECRAFT WITH A SOLAR SAIL

摘要

The invention relates to engine systems for spacecraft with a solar sail and can be used when maneuvering the spacecraft with the solar sail for improved control of the thrust of said spacecraft. The result consists in the possibility of reorientating the spacecraft in three dimensions, independently of the action of solar radiation (solar pressure), and changing the orientation, in three dimensions, of the vanes of the solar sail, by virtue of controllably changing the ratios of the values for the main moments of inertia of the spacecraft with the solar sail relative to the main orthogonal axes of said spacecraft. A change in the orientation of an initially stably rotating spacecraft and correspondingly in the thrust vector of the solar sail of said spacecraft to the required angle is produced by means of a temporary loss of stability of the instantaneous axis of rotation of the spacecraft by virtue of the controllable change in the ratios of the values for the three main moments of inertia of the spacecraft with the solar sail relative to the three main orthogonal axes of said spacecraft, wherein one of said axes coincides with the axis of the initially stable rotation of the spacecraft, and a reinstatement of this stability after the reorientation of the instantaneous axis of rotation to the required angle relative to the initial position by means of bringing the value for said main moment of inertia to the maximum value from among the three main moments of inertia.