Attitude control system for spacecraft utilizing the thruster plume

摘要

An attitude control system for a spacecraft (10) having thrusters (21-24) utilizes the exhaust plume of the thrusters for attitude control. The system is based on a configuration in which the thruster exhaust plume effect, caused for instance by the thruster plume impinging on a surface of a solar array (14) which is included in the spacecraft, is advantageously made beneficial by orienting the thrusters to achieve improved attitude control. At least one of the thrusters is canted so that the thruster control torque (Tc), if any, aids rather than opposes the torque created by the impingement of the thruster plume force(F'p). IMAGE