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

yo-yo despin (uncountable)

  1. (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.
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