{
  "patent_number": "US 10618678",
  "country": "US",
  "title": "How Satellites Use Thrusters to Balance Solar Panels",
  "original_title": "Self-balancing solar array",
  "summary": "A design for a satellite that uses strategically placed thrusters to counteract the physical twisting force caused by sunlight hitting its solar panels.",
  "what_it_does": "This patent describes a spacecraft configuration designed to solve the problem of solar radiation pressure. When sunlight hits a large solar array, it creates a torque, or twisting force, that can push the satellite off its intended path. The invention places a thruster on the far end of the solar array to fire in the opposite direction, effectively cancelling out that twist. It also specifies that the satellite's main thrusters are placed on the opposite side of the main body to maintain balance. To keep things simple, the design uses a wireless radio link to control the thruster on the solar array, avoiding the need to run complex power or data cables through the rotating joint that connects the array to the satellite body.",
  "what_it_does_not_cover": [
    "Does not cover satellites that use traditional mechanical reaction wheels to manage attitude control.",
    "Does not cover solar arrays that are fixed in place and do not rotate relative to the main body.",
    "Does not cover systems where power for the secondary thruster is supplied directly through the solar array drive assembly.",
    "Does not cover spacecraft that utilize only chemical propulsion without the specific thruster-to-torque-cancellation geometry described."
  ],
  "filed": "2015-10-20",
  "granted": "2020-04-14",
  "expires": null,
  "status": "active",
  "holder": "Space Systems Loral LLC",
  "holder_url": "https://patentbrief.org/company/space-systems-loral-llc",
  "inventors": [
    {
      "name": "Scott William Tilley",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/scott-william-tilley"
    }
  ],
  "times_cited": 1,
  "tags": [
    "aerospace",
    "mechanical",
    "telecommunications"
  ],
  "abstract": "In an on-orbit configuration, a spacecraft having a center of mass and a pitch axis passing through the center of mass includes a main body, a first solar array, and a first thruster is operable in a geostationary orbit with the first solar array deployed, proximate to a first north or south surface of the main body, such that a rotational axis of the deployed first solar array is substantially parallel to the pitch axis. The first thruster is disposed proximate to a second north or south surface of the main body, the first thruster having a thrust vector that is approximately coaligned with the pitch axis, the second surface being opposite to the first north or south surface. No solar array is proximate to the second surface.",
  "url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/10618678/raptor-full-flow-staged-combustion-engine",
  "markdown_url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/10618678/raptor-full-flow-staged-combustion-engine/md",
  "google_patents_url": "https://patents.google.com/patent/US10618678",
  "relatedPatents": []
}