Change of Inertia Tensor Due to a Severed Radial Boom for Spinning Spacecraft

Abstract: Many spinning spacecraft have long, flexible, radial booms to carry science instrumentation. These radial booms often have low mass but contribute significantly to the spacecraft moment of inertia due to their length. There are historical cases where radial booms have been severed or have failed to deploy. This paper presents models for the center of mass (CM) and inertia tensor that account for variable boom geometry and investigates how the CM and inertia tensor change when a radial boom is…