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Can the solar panels on deep space satellites (specifically Juno) rotate? Do the antennae on deep space satellites (specifically New Horizons) rotate? Or is everything static and the entire satellite must rotate?
Asking because I am doing an animation of the satellites and need to know if certain pieces can move.
Several companies manufacture gimbals to allow solar arrays and antennas on deep space craft to rotate, either in one axis or two. Some examples include Honeybee Robotics, Moog, SNC and RUAG to name a few. Each of these companies puts out brochures of their products, here's a link to one: Moog Solar Array Drive Catalog. Not every mission carries these devices because anything that moves, especially in the harsh environment of deep space, has more chances to fail than something that stays in one place all the time. We only employ these devices if the mission requires the spacecraft to orient more than one part at a particular point at a time. If you can figure out how to "take turns" in your concept of operations, you can avoid having to fly these parts. If you do need to look at two things at once (say point at earth for communication while your solar panel is pointed directly at the sun for power), then we have to include a device like these. Often, for missions that are intended to fly for a long time or encounter harsher than normal environments, the chance of mechanical failure becomes so great that it's best to make compromises in taking turns pointing at things instead of flying gimbals. That's why most missions to the outer planets including Jupiter and beyond, don't fly gimbals if they can avoid it. The Juno solar panels do not gimbal for this reason. Similarly, New Horizons contains no mechanisms or scanning platforms per the John's Hopkins Website.
