Passive Micro Vibration Isolator Utilizing Flux Pinning Effect for Satellites

Information related to the origin of space and evolution of galaxy can be obtained using the observation satellites. In recent years, high pointing accuracy is demanded for getting more detailed data about distant stars and galaxies. As a result, vibration isolators that consist of a main structure and a TTM (Tip Tilt Mirror) have been adopted for observation satellites. However, cutting the low frequency vibrations off passively with the conventional methods is difficult. A vibration isolator that uses pinning effect is proposed for solving this problem. The pinning effect is acquired by cooling the type-II superconductor below the critical temperature and it generates a pinning force to maintain the relative distance and attitude between a type- II superconductor and a material that generates magnetic flux. The mission part and the bus part of the satellite are equipped with superconductors and permanent magnets and these parts perform short distance formation flight by applying the effect. This method can cut vibrations from low to high frequency bands off passively. In addition, Meissner effect can prevent collision of the mission and bus parts. In order to investigate the performance of this system, experiments and simulations are carried out and the results are discussed.