Estimation of residual accelerations on board an Earth artificial satellite in the mode a solar orientation mode

We investigate quasi-steady accelerations arising on board an Earth artificial satellite that will be used for microgravity experiments. Its orbit is near circular with the altitude 550 – 580 km. The shape of the satellite is a cylinder with two fixed solar arrays. The arrays lie in the same plane and are located symmetrically, relative to the axis of the cylinder. The satellite attitude motion is a solar orientation mode: the normal to the plane of solar arrays is directed to the Sun and the satellite angular rate around the normal is small. The mode is realized by means of four reaction wheels (RW). We propose a variant of the solar orientation mode, in which accumulation of the angular momentum of the RW system is limited by controlling the angle of the satellite rotation around the normal to the plane of the solar arrays. A combination of the gravitational and solar orientation modes of the satellite has been investigated.