Space tether missions

A number of space tethers have been deployed in space missions. Tether satellites can be used for various purposes including research into tether propulsion, tidal stabilisation and orbital plasma dynamics.

The missions have met with varying degrees of success; a few have been highly successful.

Tethered satellites are composed of three parts: the base-satellite; tether; and sub-satellite. The base-satellite contains the sub-satellite and tether until deployment. Sometimes the base-satellite is another basic satellite, other times it could be a spacecraft, space station, or the Moon. The tether is what keeps the two satellites connected. The sub-satellite is released from the base assisted by a spring ejection system, centrifugal force or gravity gradient effects.

Tethers can be deployed for a range of applications, including electrodynamic propulsion, momentum exchange, artificial gravity, deployment of sensors or antennas etc. Tether deployment may be followed by a station-keeping phase (in particular if the target state is a vertical system orientation), and, sometimes, if the deployment system allows, a retraction.

The station-keeping phase and retraction phase need active control for stability, especially when atmospheric effects are taken into account. When there are no simplifying assumptions, the dynamics become overly difficult because they are then governed by a set of ordinary and partial nonlinear, non-autonomous and coupled differential equations. These conditions create a list of dynamical issues to consider:

In 1966, Gemini 11 deployed a 30m (100 foot) tether which was stabilized by a rotation which gave 0.00015 g.

Tethered Satellite System-1 (TSS-1) was proposed by NASA and the Italian Space Agency (ASI) in the early 1970s by Mario Grossi, of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and Giuseppe Colombo, of Padua University. It was a joint NASA-Italian Space Agency project, was flown in 1992, during STS-46 aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis from 31 July to 8 August.

The purposes of the TSS-1 mission were to verify the tether concept of gravity gradient stabilization, and to provide a research facility for investigating space physics and plasma electrodynamics. This mission uncovered several aspects about the dynamics of the tethered system, although the satellite did not fully deploy. It stuck at 78 meters; after that snag was resolved its deployment continued to a length of 256 meters before sticking again, where the effort finally ended (the total proposed length was 20,000 meters). A protruding bolt due to a late-stage modification of the deployment reel system, jammed the deployment mechanism and prevented deployment to full extension. Despite this issue, the results showed that the basic concept of long gravity-gradient stabilized tethers was sound. It also settled several short deployment dynamics issues, reduced safety concerns, and clearly demonstrated the feasibility of deploying the satellite to long distances.

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