aerospace engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...

, spin stabilization is a method of stabilizing a

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

launch vehicle A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistage ...

by means of spin, i.e.

rotation Rotation or rotational/rotary motion is the circular movement of an object around a central line, known as an ''axis of rotation''. A plane figure can rotate in either a clockwise or counterclockwise sense around a perpendicular axis intersect ...

along the longitudinal axis. The concept originates from

conservation of angular momentum Angular momentum (sometimes called moment of momentum or rotational momentum) is the rotational analog of Momentum, linear momentum. It is an important physical quantity because it is a Conservation law, conserved quantity – the total ang ...

as applied to

ballistics Ballistics is the field of mechanics concerned with the launching, flight behaviour and impact effects of projectiles, especially weapon munitions such as bullets, unguided bombs, rockets and the like; the science or art of designing and acceler ...

, where the spin is commonly obtained by means of

rifling Rifling is the term for helical grooves machined into the internal surface of a firearms's barrel for imparting a spin to a projectile to improve its aerodynamic stability and accuracy. It is also the term (as a verb) for creating such groov ...

. For most satellite applications this approach has been superseded by

three-axis stabilization Spacecraft attitude control is the process of controlling the orientation of a spacecraft (vehicle or satellite) with respect to an inertial frame of reference or another entity such as the celestial sphere, certain fields, and nearby objects, ...

Use

Spin-stabilization is used on rockets and spacecraft where attitude control is required without the requirement for on-board 3-axis propulsion or mechanisms, and sensors for attitude control and pointing. On rockets with a solid motor upper stage, spin stabilization is used to keep the motor from drifting off course as they don't have their own thrusters. Usually small rockets are used to spin up the spacecraft and rocket then fire the rocket and send the craft off. Rockets and spacecraft that use spin stabilization: * The

Jupiter-C The Jupiter-C was an American research and development vehicle developed from the Jupiter-A. Jupiter-C was used for three Uncrewed vehicle, uncrewed sub-orbital spaceflights in 1956 and 1957 to test Re-entry vehicle, re-entry nosecones that were ...

and

Minotaur V Minotaur V is an American expendable launch system derived from the Minotaur IV, itself a derivative of the retired LGM-118 Peacekeeper Intercontinental ballistic missile, ICBM. Minotaur V was developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation (now absorb ...

launch vehicles used spin-stabilization. The upper stages on both system employ spin-stabilization to stabilize the system during propulsive maneuvers. * The

Aryabhata Aryabhata ( ISO: ) or Aryabhata I (476–550 CE) was the first of the major mathematician-astronomers from the classical age of Indian mathematics and Indian astronomy. His works include the '' Āryabhaṭīya'' (which mentions that in 3600 ' ...

satellite used spin-stabilization * The

Pioneer 4 Pioneer 4 was an American spin-stabilized uncrewed spacecraft launched as part of the Pioneer program on a lunar flyby trajectory and into a heliocentric orbit making it the first probe of the United States to escape from the Earth's gravity. ...

spacecraft, the second object sent on a lunar flyby in

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

, maintained its attitude using spin-stabilization. * The

Schiaparelli EDM lander ''Schiaparelli'' EDM () was a failed Entry, Descent, and Landing Demonstrator Module (EDM) of the ExoMars programme—a joint mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos. It was built in Italy and was inte ...

was spun up to 2.5 RPM before being ejected from the

ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO or ExoMars Orbiter) is a collaborative project between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Russian Roscosmos agency that sent an atmospheric research orbiter and the ''Schiaparelli'' demonstration lande ...

prior to its attempted landing on Mars in October 2016. * The

Juno Juno commonly refers to: *Juno (mythology), the Roman goddess of marriage and queen of the gods * ''Juno'' (film), the 2007 film Juno may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional characters *Juno, a character in the book ''Juno of ...

was spin-stabilized and arrived at Jupiter orbit in 2016. * The launches of

Pioneer 10 ''Pioneer 10'' (originally designated Pioneer F) is a NASA space probe launched in 1972 that completed the first mission to the planet Jupiter. ''Pioneer 10'' became the first of five artificial objects to achieve the escape velocity needed ...

and

Pioneer 11 ''Pioneer 11'' (also known as ''Pioneer G'') is a NASA robotic space probe launched on April 5, 1973, to study the asteroid belt, the environment around Jupiter and Saturn, the solar wind, and cosmic rays. It was the first probe to Exploration ...

probes on two Atlas Centaur vehicles in 1972 and 1973 employed

Star 37 The Star is a family of US solid-propellant rocket motors originally developed by Thiokol and used by many space propulsion and launch vehicle stages. They are used almost exclusively as an upper stage, often as an apogee kick motor. The number ...

rocket motors that were spin-stabilized in order to inject the satellites into the high-energy hyperbolic orbits necessary to achieve solar system escape velocity. Additionally, both probes were spin-stabilized during their flights and rotated at approximately 5 rpm. * In operation as a third stage, the

Star 48 The Star 48 is the largest of a family of solid rocket motors used by many space propulsion and launch vehicle stages, almost exclusively as an upper stage. It was developed primarily by Thiokol Propulsion and after several mergers, is manufact ...

rocket booster sits on top of spin table, and before it is separated it is spun up to stabilize it during the separation from the previous stage. The Delta II launch vehicle third stage employed a Star 48 motor and was

spin-stabilized In aerospace engineering, spin stabilization is a method of stabilizing a satellite or launch vehicle by means of spin, i.e. rotation along the longitudinal axis. The concept originates from conservation of angular momentum as applied to ballistic ...

and depended on the second stage for proper orientation prior to stage separation, but was sometimes equipped with a nutation control system to maintain proper spin axis. It also included a yo-weight system to induce tumbling in the third stage after payload separation to prevent recontact, or a

yo-yo de-spin A yo-yo de-spin mechanism is a device used to reduce the spin of satellites, typically soon after launch. It consists of two lengths of cable with weights on the ends. The cables are wrapped around the final stage and/or satellite, in the manne ...

mechanism to slow the rotation before payload release. Despinning can be achieved by various techniques, including

. With advancements in attitude control propulsion systems, guidance systems, and the needs for satellites to point instruments and communications systems precisely, 3-axis attitude control has become much more common than spin-stabilization for systems operating in space.

References

Spacecraft attitude control Spaceflight technology {{Rocket-stub

Use

See also

References