Design and performance simulation of a satellite momentum exchange actuator

AbstractThe attitude determination and control subsystem is tasked with identifying the location and the orientation of the satellite at all times during the mission. Momentum exchange actuators such as reaction wheels are mounted on the satellites to transfer some of their torque, turning them through its centre of mass along each of three axes. In this paper, the design process of a momentum exchange actuator is presented, which has been designed and manufactured in Space Research Laboratory. This device named as RW2000 is the engineering model of reaction wheel for the satellite control simulator. In this approach in designing, design parameters related to the manoeuvrability of the system are considered as the inputs of the design process. After presenting the overall concept of the design process along with constrains, the general analysis of the actuator’s performance is investigated and the related equations are derived. Using the derived equations, the design process is developed. Finally, the eng...