Angular momentum management strategy of the FengYun-4 meteorological satellite

Solar radiation torque has a great impact on Chinese new generation geostationary meteorological satellite FengYun-4 since its single winged solar array configuration. Daily accumulation in angular momentum stored in reaction wheels may increase about 30Nms, and should be unloaded via bipropellant thrusters during a daily 15-min housekeeping period. How to prevent zero-crossing and saturation of wheels, how to reduce the operation speed range of wheels, and how to ensure the service continuity if any one of wheels fails are the problems to be faced. In addition, both the uncertainty of thruster torque and the variability of solar radiation during all the life span may go against with the automaticity of angular momentum management. In this paper, a null-space-based momentum management method is presented, upon which the angular momentum is managed by null motion control while service and dumped during the housekeeping period. In-flight and numerical simulation results demonstrate the reliability and validity of this strategy. •The angular momentum management strategy for Fengyun-4 satellite is proposed.•The dumping target is set in three-dimensional space and null space respectively.•Each momentum wheel's rotation speed range is optimized.•Quick momentum self-adjusting is realized when the wheel configuration changes.•Auto-unloading logic is specified for the uncertainty of thrust and solar radiation.