In the fall of 1977 it was determined that Skylab had started to tumble and that the original orbit lifetime predictions were much too optimistic. A decision had to be made whether to accept an early uncontrolled reentry with its inherent risks or try to attempt to control Skylab to a lower drag attitude in the hope that there was enough time to develop a Teleoperator Retrieval System, bring it up on the Space Shuttle and then decide whether to boost Skylab to a higher longer life orbit or to reenter it in a controlled fashion. The end-on-velocity (EOVV) control method is documented, which was successfully applied for about half a year to keep Skylab in a low drag attitude with the aid of the control moment gyros and a minimal expenditure of attitude control gas.


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    Title :

    Low Drag Attitude Control for Skylab Orbital Lifetime Extension


    Contributors:
    J. R. Glaese (author) / H. F. Kennel (author)

    Publication date :

    1981


    Size :

    65 pages


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English




    Low drag attitude control for Skylab orbital lifetime extension

    Glaese, J. R. / Kennel, H. F. | NTRS | 1981


    Skylab Orbital Lifetime Prediction and Decay Analysis

    P. E. Dreher / R. P. Little / G. Wittenstein | NTIS | 1980


    Skylab attitude control system

    Coon, T. R. / Irby, J. E. | NTRS | 1976


    Skylab attitude control system

    Coon, T.R. / Irby, J.E. | Tema Archive | 1976


    Digital attitude control of the Skylab and Apollo/Soyuz orbital assemblies

    Penchuk, A. / Turnbull, J. F. / Schlundt, R. W. et al. | NTRS | 1974