3 ms·
It likely has reaction wheels and magnetorquers on board for attitude control. The propellant is only used for orbit raising.
by hughes 4y ago
It likely has reaction wheels and magnetorquers on board for attitude control. The propellant is only used for orbit raising.
- dylan604 4y agoraising and lowering. sometimes, you have to move your bird out of the way of something else. with enough notice, you speed up or slow down to change altitude cost effectively. direct lifting in altitude is expensive in use of fuel
- 7952 4y agoI think you also use propellent to reset the reaction control wheels when they run too quickly.
- sgtnoodle 4y agoI believe that's the reason for the magnetorquer? There should be very little reason for a satellite to build up angular velocity beyond very small imbalances like from atmospheric drag. The needle of a high quality compass seems to have plenty of torque. It probably used propellant initially, though. Using the propulsion system frivolously could even be detrimental for various reasons. Depending on what it is, it could cause degradation to parts of the satellite like its optics or solar panels. During scheduled thrusts, the satellite could have to orient mechanisms a certain way or close an aperture.