The problem of a spinning satellite with a partially filled viscous ring nutation damper is investigated. It is shown that there are two distinct modes of motion, previously named the nutation synchronous mode and the spin synchronous mode. An approximate solution for the nutation angle time history is obtained and time constants for the two modes are given as a function of suitable dimensionless parameters. Comparison is then made with the exact solution obtained by numerical integration of the exact equations of motion. From a consideration of the fluid dynamics several methods are developed for determining the damping constant. American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc., 1974, All rights reserved.
