A Novel MEMs Actuator for Attitude Control of Miniature Satellites

The objective is to investigate a new mircro-electrical mechanical device for controlling the orientation of small satellites. The device consists of a base and four piezoelectric beams, which are attached to the base. The base is attached to the satellite and the piezoelectric beams are actuated in a manner to inject angular momentum into the satellite, thereby producing angular momentum. In this one-year effort, we propose to model and numerically simulate the actuator, and to evaluate its ability to effectively control satellite orientation. Furthermore, we propose to demonstrate the actuator through a bench-top experiment.