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.


    Access

    Access via TIB

    Check availability in my library


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    The ProSEDS Mission


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit ; 2000 ; Reno, NV, United States


    Publication date :

    2000-01-01


    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English




    Review of the ProSEDS Electrodynamic Tether Mission Development

    Vaughn, Jason / Curtis, Leslie / Gilchrist, Brian et al. | AIAA | 2004


    Review of the ProSEDS Electrodynamic Tether Mission Development

    Vaughn, Jason A. / Curtis, Leslie / Gilchrist, Brian E. et al. | NTRS | 2004


    Propulsive Small Expendable Deployer System (ProSEDS)

    Curtis, Leslie / Johnson, Les / Brown, Norman S. | NTRS | 2002


    Propulsive Small Expendable Deployer System (ProSEDS)

    Ballance, J. / Johnson, L. / Institute for Space and Nuclear Power Studies | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2001


    System Analysis of the Expected Electrodynamic Tether Performance for the ProSEDS Mission

    Fuhrhop, Keith / Gilchrist, Brian / Bilén, Sven et al. | AIAA | 2003