Modular Space Station: Orbit Decay, Power, Thermal and Attitude

A generic low Earth orbit station built from modules. Atmospheric drag lowers the orbit, reboost burns cost propellant (Tsiolkovsky), solar arrays feed a battery through eclipse, radiators reject the heat and gravity-gradient torque turns the whole complex.

Scenarios

Live readouts

Graph

Time

1. Assemble the station

Solar wings

Radiators

2. Orbit and atmosphere

Solar activity

3. Power

Beta gimbals: arrays tilt to face the Sun at any beta angle

4. Propulsion and reboost

Engine

Auto-reboost when altitude falls below the floor

5. Attitude control

Control moment gyros (CMG) hold the pitch angle Desaturate with thrusters when the CMGs are nearly full (costs propellant)

Experiments

1. How much propellant does drag cost? Orbit-averaged decay at the current altitude for three solar-activity levels.

2. How many solar wings survive eclipse? Closed-form bound against a 20-orbit time-stepped battery run.

3. Will the station tumble? Pitch stiffness from the computed inertia tensor, against a CMG-off run.

Numerical checks

The science

Display

High is the default, including phones; Low is for slow devices (also ?q=low).

Drag to orbit, pinch or wheel to zoom. Station parts are drawn to scale; Earth, the orbit view and the plumes are schematic. Generic station: no agency or brand design is shown.