NUTATIONAL STABILITY OF MULTI-BODY SPIN-STABILIZED SATELLITES.

Conditions are derived for the nutational stability i.e. for the state of motion to converge to the desired simple spin condition for multi-body vehicles, relative rotations of the bodies being permitted about a common axis, which is also the desired spin axis. Simultaneous energy dissipation or injection in all bodies is covered, confirming ideas which could only be conjectured from previous work. In particular it is shown that moment of inertia ratios will normally be unimportant if the nutation damper assumed dissipative is mounted on a de-spun platform. This permits flexibility of design in satellites which are essentially three-axis stabilized but have, by the provision of a spinning part, the desirable features of a spin-stabilized vehicle. Author