Electrodynamic tether propulsion has a number of attractive features and has been widely discussed for different low earth orbit applications. Despite the commonality of application, the choice of the proper design for any particular mission is a unique problem. The flight trajectory, duration, available power and voltage, and drag force should be taken into consideration with other mission requirements. Characteristics of tether performance such as system acceleration and electrical efficiency should be calculated and assessed based on the system's capability to collect electrical current. We discuss the choice of parameters for circular, tape, and grid-sphere tether anodes and their applicability to International Space Station (ISS) reboost and Momentum Exchange Electrodynamic Reboost (MXER) applications.
Electrodynamic Tether as a Thruster for LEO Mission Applications
42nd AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference ; 2006 ; Sacramento, CA, United States
2006-01-01
Conference paper
No indication
English
Electrodynamic Tether as a Thruster for LEO Mission Applications
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