FEASIBILITY OF NONCONTACTING ELECTROMAGNETIC DESPINNING OF A SATELLITE BY INDUCING EDDY CURRENTS IN ITS SKIN .2. DESIGN IMPLEMENTATION

The servicing of disabled satellites requires that the units be despun before any repair can be done. In a companion paper, we have presente d the analytical considerations pertinent to the design of an electrom agnetically coupled despin system based on inducing eddy currents in t he satellite skin by an external dc magnetic held. Two configurations, namely, a current loop and a magnet, either permanent bar or U-shaped electromagnet, have been examined as the source of eddy current power input to the satellite. In this paper, we conduct parametric studies on the despin system designs, proposed in the earlier investigation, i n order to comparatively evaluate these designs from the standpoint of reducing the despin time to a reasonable value. Computed results on t he despin time and the eddy current power input indicate that times of the order of orbital daylight or less can be achieved with only moder ate expenditure of power.