Passive Attitude Stabilization of Small Satellites

Abstract - Passive stabilization can drastically simplify the design of attitude control systems of Earth-oriented satellites with moderate pointing requirements. Long tethers are attractive for passive attitude stabilization because, at the expense of a small mass increment, they provide strong restoring torques about the roll and pitch axes of the satellite. Consequently, reaction wheels and thrusters for pitch and roll control can be eliminated, thereby saving propellant mass in direct proportion to the mission duration. The attainable pointing accuracies, the masses and inertia ratios required for passive attitude stabilization are analyzed and discussed in this paper. Numerical results are derived for low and geostationary Earth's orbits for a class of small satellites.