yo-yo despin
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From the cables being wrapped around the spacecraft and unreeling in the manner of a double yo-yo.
Noun
- (astronautics) A method of reducing the rotation rate of a rapidly-spinning spacecraft by unreeling a pair of weights from the spinning spacecraft, greatly increasing the spacecraft's moment of inertia and transferring most of the spacecraft's angular momentum to the weights.
Related terms
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.