The dynamics and stability of a telescopically deployable dumbbell satellite undergoing in-plane attitude, vibration and deployment motions are studied. The equations of motion are developed from Hamilton's principle and are used to conduct parametric studies of a rigid satellite with and without deployment. Results for small amplitude librations in the absence of deployment are in complete agreement with published data. Results for large amplitude attitude librations in the absence of deployment, show nonlinear and unstable motions that are analogous to the large amplitude behavior of a pendulum.
Extensional deployment is shown to stabilize the attitude motion.
Retrieval or contracting deployment destabilizes all attitude motions and produces chaotic orbital motions for moderate amplitude librations. Computational studies produce time-series data representing radial distances and angles of rotation between the earth and the first satellite mass, and between the two satellite masses. A series of offsets are computed along the connecting rod of the satellite assembly to describe the deformation of the rod as the simulation progresses. These data are used to construct and position three-dimensional geometry within the visualization programs used to create the animations. The data are rescaled for visibility.