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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 5139217 | Passive damper for spin stabilized projectiles A stabilizer comprised of a pair of toroidal fluid passages filled with a viscous fluid orthogonally mounted with respect to one another on a spin stabilized projectile. One torus is rigidly attached to the projectile and aligned with the x axis of the pr... | 08/18/1992 |
| 5062593 | Solid-propellant-powered maneuvering system for spacecraft An improvement to a variable-pressure solid-propellant-powered maneuvering ystem for spacecraft, enabling the system to operate for longer than one propellant burn time. At least two solid propellant gas generators are connected via a manifold to a plurali... | 11/05/1991 |
| 5042752 | Apparatus for controlling the attitude of and stabilizing an elastic body A device is disclosed for regulating a set value and/or for stabilizing elastic objects subject to spin and free to move around their axis of rotation, in particular aircraft and spacecraft. For that purpose, the regulating signals required to regulate th... | 08/27/1991 |
| 4947067 | Vibrator/dampener having magnetic suspension and servo-control along three axes A combination vibration generator and dampener having magnetic suspension and servo-control along three axes includes a hollow outer body fixed to a structure whose vibration is to be controlled, and an inner body which is essentially spherical in shape a... | 08/07/1990 |
| 4931942 | Transition control system for spacecraft attitude control A method for controlling transition from thruster control to momentum wheel control to minimize nutation angle and transition time in a three-axis stabilized spacecraft employing an internal body fixed-momentum wheel as an attitude stabilizer. The method ... | 06/05/1990 |
| 4927101 | Method for tilting the moment of inertia of a rotating free body in space into any given direction In order to shift the moment of inertia Hi of a body in rotation initially in rotation approximately about its principal axis of inertia Z into any given orientation HF one applies transversely to the axis Z three torque impulses in ... | 05/22/1990 |
| 4922159 | Linear precision actuator with accelerometer feedback A high precision linear actuator for compensating short stroke, high frequency vibrations in a space deployed structure comprises a set of cylindrical magnetic pole pieces affixed to respective ones of a pair of graphite flexures, that are mounted to a th... | 05/01/1990 |
| 4897582 | Linear dc motor vibration controller A linear force actuator system for stabilizing a support structure employs a linear dc motor whose primary winding is driven by a pulse width modulation control signal representative of a force input, through which the secondary member of the motor which ... | 01/30/1990 |
| 4843294 | Solar array stepping to minimize array excitation Mechanical oscillations of a mechanism containing a stepper motor, such as a solar-array powered spacecraft, are reduced and minimized by the execution of step movements in pairs of steps, the period between steps being equal to one-half of the period of ... | 06/27/1989 |
| 4824052 | Nutation sensor and nutation control system for a dual-spin stabilized satellite A nutation sensor and nutation control system using a relative spin phase sensor in a dual-spin stabilized satellite is disclosed. The relative spin phase sensor provides index pulses indicative of the relative spin phase and rate between the satellite ro... | 04/25/1989 |
| 4776540 | Method of orienting a synchronous satellite The invention is a method of orienting a satellite in a geosynchronous orbit so as to direct a beam from an antenna mounted on the satellite to cover a desired target site, and pointing the beam axis at a desired bore site target. One embodiment of the me... | 10/11/1988 |
| 4732354 | Active damping of satellite nutation For controlling nutation of a three-axis stabilized satellite, the angular speed of a solar panel carried by the satellite is selectively and temporarily varied about an average value for modifying the inertia cross-product thereof and generating an angul... | 03/22/1988 |
| 4728062 | Pivot actuated nutation damping for a dual-spin spacecraft A nutation damping control for a dual-spin satellite is provided by tilting the axis of the rotor relative to the normal spin axis of the satellite and back a half nutation period later. The tilting is in the direction of the angular momentum vector compo... | 03/01/1988 |
| 4591117 | Spacecraft nutation damping An active nutation damping system for a spacecraft may comprise a nutation sensor controlling an actuator, a thruster say, via a control system so as to produce nutation opposing torques. Following the realization that performance limits on known systems ... | 05/27/1986 |
| 4516746 | Nutation damper system comprising a control member for varying a natural frequency of a pendulum In a nutation damper system which includes a pendulum (30, 33, 34, 38) swingable at a natural frequency and a block element (35) which cooperates with the pendulum to damp nutations having a nutation frequency, a control member (40) electromagnetically co... | 05/14/1985 |
| 4504032 | Control of nutation in a spacecraft A method and apparatus for damping nutation in a spacecraft to essentially zero in less than one nutation period which has a spin axis, first and second transverse axes and a characteristic nutation frequency λ. A time interval t1 after the tr... | 03/12/1985 |
| 4504033 | Stabilizing device for gyroscope effect apparatus such as a space craft or vehicle, especially with a view to damping the nutation motion The nutation damper comprises a closed flow path for a dense liquid, which may be a propellent and a pump for setting the liquid in periodic motion, thereby to dissipate or generate rotational energy controlled by a detector sensitive to a parameter relat... | 03/12/1985 |
| 4424948 | Magnetically torqued nutation damping A system for actively damping nutation of a satellite and/or aligning the pitch axis of a momentum bias satellite with some external reference includes a magnetic torquing means which is energized with currents of appropriate polarity and magnitude to eff... | 01/10/1984 |
| 4386750 | Method of damping nutation motion with minimum spin axis attitude disturbance In a method of and apparatus for damping nutation of a spinning spacecraft (10), spin axis attitude disturbances are substantially reduced by controlling at least one nutation damping gas thruster (18) to fire with non-uniform gas pulses. During the begin... | 06/07/1983 |
| 4275861 | Orientation of momentum stabilized vehicles A preselected axis other than the axis of maximum moment of inertia of a momentum stabilized spacecraft is oriented for alignment with the total angular momentum vector of the spacecraft by rotating one or more rotors to a critical rate of rotation. The r... | 06/30/1981 |
| 4272045 | Nutation damping in a dual-spin spacecraft A dual-spin spacecraft having a momentum wheel spinning relative to a platform to provide bias momentum utilizes cross products of inertia (POI) existing in the platform between the spinning axis and the transverse axes to achieve nutation damping. When t... | 06/09/1981 |
| 4230294 | Closed loop roll control for momentum biased satellites An attitude control and stabilization system for momentum biased satellites utilizing a pair of counterrotating flywheels mounted parallel to its yaw axis. The speed of one of the wheels of the pair is controlled by sensing and correcting the roll axis er... | 10/28/1980 |
| 4193570 | Active nutation controller An apparatus for controlling nutation motion in a spinning body, comprising an angular accelerometer having its input axis perpendicular to the spin axis of the body, a flywheel having an axis of rotation perpendicular to the axis of the accelerometer and... | 03/18/1980 |
| 4174819 | Controller for the attitude stabilization of a satellite A controller for the attitude stabilization of a satellite. The controller odifies the action of a first control circuit by responding to the signals of attitude $c; and angular velocity of attitude $c; developed by the first control circuit. A secon... | 11/20/1979 |
| 4170904 | Single-axis disturbance compensation system The invention relates generally to an improved system for sensing and compensating for external disturbance forces acting on a satellite while in orbit. A proof mass member is housed within an enclosure and shielded from external, non-gravitational forces... | 10/16/1979 |
| 4168048 | Eddy current nutation damper with progressive damping factor A nutation damper apparatus capable of damping small nutation angles in a satellite. A permanent magnet mounted on the free end of a pendulum arm oscillates back and forth parallel to an adjacent conductive plate in the form of a circular segment having a... | 09/18/1979 |
| 4096427 | Nutation damping in dual-spin stabilized devices A motor active nutation damping system employing a rotor mounted accelerometer, a platform/rotor relative rate sensor, a despin motor and a controller. In the presence of nutation, the accelerometer senses a sinusoidal acceleration whose amplitude is prop... | 06/20/1978 |
| 4078748 | Attitude stabilization and control of dual-spin spacecraft This invention relates to an attitude stabilizing system for a rod-shaped satellite in which stabilization is achieved by use of a spinning energy dissipator. The system can operate by being mounted on the rotor of a dual spin satellite or by being connec... | 03/14/1978 |
