Projects:2017s2-290 The Magnetorquer

Students

Yuepeng Ning

Yiwen Guo

Supervisors

Andrew Allison

Introduction

A magnetorquer is a system built from electromagnetic coils. It can create a magnetic field that interacts with the Earth’s magnetic field to produced provide a small torque, which can be used for attitude control of a small satellite, such as cube-sat, the cube-sat is a mature design to achieve the attitude control.

Aim

The aim of this project is to design and fabricate a magnetorquer which consists of coils and control system. The coil is able to generate magnetic moment and the control system is able to change the magnetic moment. All the components should be integrated in a board which is easy to use and test. The final product should be inexpensive, working with low power and all the related testing should be finished.

Motivation

For large satellites, it is easy to equip jet propulsion unit, but for small satellites, the magnetorquer is the best way to achieve attitude control. Nowadays, many companies are working on creating smaller and low power consumption satellites, this project will provide a new solution to the stakeholders who want to get the optimal performance and less cost.