Bob, I am not a rocket scientist but may qualify as a greybeard. Have been an ardent follower of satellite attitudes for many years. I would have thought that passive magnetic stabilisation would have been the preferred option to meet your objective.
In principle your idea should work, however you would need some smart processing on board as the Earth's Main Field inclination does not follow the equator. The only concern I would envisage is that if the magnetic coil is not triggered precisely relative to the earth's magnetic field you may flip the satellite and negate your objective. Eastern Hemisphere passes should not present a timing issue but the Western Hemisphere (over the Americas) may present a real timing issue thus processing+++.
Just my two bobs worth. 73 Colin VK5HI.
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Robert Bruninga Sent: Friday, 21 February 2014 07:58 To: [email protected] Subject: [amsat-bb] Cubesat 1 axis attitude control?
Need an AMSAT greybeard with attitude control experience.
We want to use only one magnetorguer coil (a Z coil) to more or less keep our Z axis aligned with the Earth's axis (+/-30 deg)
We figure if we energize the Z coil only twice per orbit while over the equator where the Earth's magnetic field is aligned with the poles we can eventually bring it into alignment. Then we maintain that alignment using white/black differential solar radiation pressure to maintain a fractional RPM about the Z axis.
I need help from some greybeards to prove this is possible.
Bob, WB4aPR _______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb