Global stability of a shielded dual-spin satellite

Abstract

Sufficient conditions for the global stabilities of equilibrium positions of a dual-spin satellite equipped with a cylindrical electrostatic screen normal to the circular equatorial orbital plane system under the action of moments induced by the gravitational and Lorentz forces are obtained by Liapunov's direct method. The problem is then studied with respect to all variables, including the angular velocity of the rotor. The instabilities of the problem are solved by the first approximation theorem. Furthermore, sufficient conditions for the global stability of rotation with arbitrary angular velocity for an axisymmetric dual-spin satellite equipped with an electrostatic screen me presented by applying Liapunov's direct method.