MULTIROTOR GYROSCOPIC DEVICE AND METHOD FOR SPACECRAFT SPATIAL POSITION CONTROL Russian patent published in 2010 - IPC B64G1/28 

FIELD: transport.

SUBSTANCE: inventions relate to inertia-gyroscopic systems for spacecraft (SC) angular position control. This device represents dynamically symmetrical system of solid bodies-rotors rotating on multiple axes symmetrically fixed in SC frame. The rotors are centrally-symmetrically positioned on axes. For each rotor there is its own symmetrical linked rotor with equivalent mass-inertia parametres. SC orientation change is performed according to law of conservation of kinetic momentum. For this purpose following is executed: linked rotors are synchronously accelerated in opposite directions and then single rotors are quickly (virtually instantaneously) captured-braked. The latter action is feasible by means of rotor engagements with frame or through creation of high frictional forces in axes. In this process, at first one of the pair of linked rotors is captured-braked and after SC has turned by required angle the mating linked rotor is captured-braked to stop the SC.

EFFECT: inertialess and fast execution of SC reorientation manoeuvres without constant maintaining high angular rotational speeds of rotors, and independent of nonlinearity of accelerating engine characteristics.

2 cl, 4 dwg