Date of Award

12-1992

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics

First Advisor

Christopher D. Hall, PhD

Abstract

An approximate solution is obtained for the linearized equations of motion for the spinup dynamics of a dual-spin spacecraft. The approximation is obtained from the WKB (Wentzel, Kramers, and Brillouin) method, which usually generates a divergent series. Comparison between the WKB solution and the numerically integrated solution are used to study the effects of spinup torque magnitude and the number of WKB terms used on the accuracy of the approximation. The WKB method generates accurate approximations for small spinup torques using as few as two terms in the series when no singularities are present in the WKB terms during the spinup time interval. For an axisymmetric spacecraft, the WKB series truncates after one term and provides the exact solution to the equations of motion.

AFIT Designator

AFIT-GA-ENY-92D-11

DTIC Accession Number

ADA258903

Comments

The author's Vita page is omitted.

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