Rachman, Abdul; Vananti, Alessandro; Schildknecht, Thomas (2020). Understanding the Oscillating Pattern in the Rotational Period Evolution of several GLONASS Satellites. In: AMOS Conference. Maoui, Hawaii. September 15-18, 2020.
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Previous studies have shown an oscillating pattern in the rotational period evolution of several decommissioned payloads in geosynchronous and medium Earth orbit. In the AIUB light curve database, 26 out of 70 GLONASS satellites show this pattern clearly. Most of them are GLONASS Block IIv satellites which have been considered debris for more than a decade. By inspecting a long evolution of the rotational period, a roughly annual pattern
consisting of a series of peaks with triangular shape is revealed. The current study tries to understand this pattern by simulating the rotation rate of a satellite under different conditions. We have obtained preliminary results using a simple satellite model with cylinder shape for the bus and two rectangular plates as wings for the solar panels.
Several simulations were run with various initial orientations of the satellites and of their rotation axis. We found that the roughly annual oscillating pattern is achievable only if the two solar panels are oriented differently. This result seems true whatever the initial orientation of the satellites and of the rotation axis are. There is evidence that the periodic behavior is caused by solar radiation pressure on the solar panel of the satellites by adding or subtracting angular momentum to the system periodically. For this type of satellite geometry, the asymmetry of the solar panels somehow plays a key role in understanding this behavior.
Item Type: |
Conference or Workshop Item (Paper) |
|---|---|
Division/Institute: |
08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Astronomy |
UniBE Contributor: |
Rachman, Abdul, Vananti, Alessandro, Schildknecht, Thomas |
Subjects: |
500 Science > 520 Astronomy |
Language: |
English |
Submitter: |
Alessandro Vananti |
Date Deposited: |
26 Jan 2021 14:18 |
Last Modified: |
05 Dec 2022 15:44 |
BORIS DOI: |
10.48350/150774 |
URI: |
https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/150774 |
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