Abstract: In this paper, the chaotic dynamics of liquid-filled flexible spacecraft is investigated in the large angle attitude maneuver from minor axis to major axis with the influence of viscous damping of liquid fuel and the torsional vibration of flexible appendage. In addition, the coupled influence is focused in this paper. The dynamic equations are derived and transformed into a perturbation form. Melnikov's integral method is used to predict the chaotic attitude of the spacecraft, compared with the numerical results of the system. Furthermore, the effects on chaotic attitude of the spacecraft are investigated of spacecraft shape, the inertial momentum and the damping properties of liquid fuel, and the frequency of flexible appendage.

Key words: attitude dynamics of spacecraft, liquid-filled spacecraft, attitude maneuver, flexible appendage, nonlinear dynamics, Chaos