EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION OF CHAOTIC ATTITUDE MOTIONOF TETHERED SPACECRAFT SYSTEM

The paper studies chaotic motions of a tethered spacecraft by utilizing the ground-based experimental system. Based on the dynamics similarity principle, the dynamic equivalent model between the on-orbit tethered spacecraft and its ground experiment system are obtained. The space dynamics environment of the tethered spacecraft is simulated with the help of thrust forces and torque of momentum wheel on satellite simulator. Numerical simulations of the on-orbit tethered spacecraft show that the pitch motion of the tether is period or quasi-period one, while the attitude motion of the mother spacecraft behaves chaotic motion. The numerical results are verified based on the ground-based experimental system. The experiment shows that the torque of momentum wheel with a negative damping is able to suppress the chaotic motion.