Maslova A. Influence of the aerodynamic moment variability on the gravity stabilized spacecraft motion relative to the center of mass

The thesis is devoted to research of gravity stabilized spacecraft motion relative to the center of mass in near-Earth space. Spacecraft is taken as a solid body. Aerodynamic moment variability is taken into account depending on spacecraft orientation relative to incident flow and atmospheric density changes in orbit caused by: swelling of atmosphere on the Earth solar side; changes of orbital height due to the Earth nonsphericity; changes of orbital height due to orbit ellipticity. A mathematical model of the aerodynamic moment taking into account its variability and suitable to spacecraft dynamic analytical research is developed and used at spacecraft motion research. Methods to investigate spacecraft motion under gravitational stabilization are developed. New regularities of spacecraft motion relative to the center of mass are determined and it is shown that aerodynamic moment variability can significantly deteriorate orientation accuracy of considered class of satellites.