How do gyroscopes work in space?
In: Physics
Conservation of angular momentum.
Imagine a bike wheel. When it’s stopped, it just falls over. When the bike is moving, however, the wheels want to stay upright. This is because a rotating body will always try to keep its orientation.
So the gyroscope has a weight in the center which spin, and so has a fixed starting angle compared to the rings of the gyroscope. Using how much the rings deviate from the core, you can figure out how the position of the entire gyroscope has changed.
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