Patent ID: 7097127

Claim:
An apparatus for trimming the mass properties of a spacecraft, comprising: a storage spool rotatably mounted on a first shaft, the first shaft being fixedly mounted on the spacecraft on a first side of a center of gravity of the apparatus; an output spool rotatably mounted on a second shaft, the second shaft being fixedly mounted on the spacecraft on a second side of the center of gravity of the apparatus such that the first shaft, the center of gravity, and the second shaft are substantially colinear along a first line; and a flexible material having a first end coupled to the storage spool and a second end coupled to the output spool, the flexible material traversing a second line, the second line being substantially perpendicular to the first line; wherein a length of the flexible material is distributed between windings of the storage spool and the output spool to adjust mass properties of the spacecraft by changing the center of gravity of the apparatus.