Examples of tether propulsion in orbit without the use of reaction mass are discussed. These include (1) using tether extension to reposition a satellite in orbit without fuel expenditure by extending a mass on the end of the tether; (2) using a tether for eccentricity pumping to add energy to the orbit for boosting and orbital transfer; and (3) length modulation of a spinning tether to transfer angular momentum between the orbit and tether spin, thus allowing changes in orbital angular momentum.
Reactionless orbital propulsion using tether deployment
1990-10-01
Conference paper
No indication
English
Tether methods for reactionless orbital propulsion
NTRS | 1991
|Reactionless orbital capture using tethers
AIAA | 1998
|Reactionless Orbital Capture Using Tethers
British Library Conference Proceedings | 1998
|Free (Reactionless) Torque Generation—Or Free Propulsion Concept
American Institute of Physics | 2010
|