Measurement of Satellite Solar Array Panel Vibrations Caused by Thermal Snap and Gas Jet Thruster Firing

Many space satellites have large solar array paddles (Fig. 1) for power generation and large antennas for observation and communication. These large space structures are folded during transport into space by launch vehicles, and deployed after arriving in space. The paddles and antennas must be lightweight because of the payload weight limit of the launch vehicle and are therefore very flexible, with little damping ability. This results in vibrations, which cause serious problems. In particular, there have been increasing demands for enhanced resolution of Earth observations from low Earth orbiting satellites in recent years. Accordingly, the requirements for satellite attitude stability are also increasing. Conversely, it is also known that the attitude stability of low Earth orbiting satellites is disturbed when the satellites go into and leave an eclipse. When the thermal environment around a flexible structure on orbit such as a solar array paddle changes to cold or hot, the flexible structure