Relatively short electrodynamic tethers can extract orbital energy to "push" against a planetary magnetic field and achieve propulsion without the expenditure of propellant. The Propulsive Small Expendable Deployer System experiment will use the flight-proven Small Expendable Deployer System to deploy a 5-km bare aluminum tether from a Delta II upper stage to achieve approximately equal 0.4-N drag thrust, thus lowering the altitude of the stage. The experiment will use a predominantly "bare" tether for current collection in lieu of the endmass collector and insulated tether approach used on previous missions. The flight experiment is a precursor to a more ambitious electrodynamic tether upper stage demonstration mission which will be capable of orbit raising, lowering, and inclination changes--all using electrodynamic thrust. An overview of the mission and the expected performance of the tether propulsion system during the experiment are described.
The ProSEDS Mission
Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit ; 2000 ; Reno, NV, United States
2000-01-01
Aufsatz (Konferenz)
Keine Angabe
Englisch
Propulsive Small Expendable Deployer System (ProSEDS)
NTRS | 2002
|Propulsive Small Expendable Deployer System (ProSEDS)
British Library Conference Proceedings | 2001
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