Structures and Materials Commons^™

A Novel Magnetorheological Fluid Damper For A Small Spacecraft With Flexible Appendages, Robert Waelchli

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Small satellites have become increasingly popular over the past thirty years, particularly since the adoption of the common CubeSat architecture early this century. Because of their restricted volume and electrical budgets however, there are practical limits to the missions that small satellites may adopt. One potential near-term solution to the problem of limited electrical power may be the adoption of larger, flexible solar arrays. However, spacecraft with flexible appendages have historically presented attitude control challenges relating to platform stability given the dynamic response of the flexible components to applied torques. These challenges may be particularly disruptive to a small spacecraft …