Analytical expansions of torque-free motions for short and long axis modes (Q1199721)

The torque-free motion of a rigid body is considered. First the exact solution is discussed using Andoyer variables. However, its numerical evaluation is a little bit complicated. Therefore simple analytical expansions for short-and-long-axis modes are given, which are correct up to the second-order of a small parameter. These expressions include only trigonometric functions and are easily evaluated by hand calculation.