Abstract The reconfiguring of a two-craft Coulomb tether, aligned along the orbit radial direction, is studied. The linearized out-of-plane equation of motion is decoupled and not influenced by Coulomb forces. Previous research assumes this out-of-plane motion is controlled with conventional thrusting to keep it within a specified bound. An analytical solution is developed for the linearized charged out-of-plane relative motion using Bessel functions for the special reconfiguration case where the prescribed expansion or contraction rate is constant. Bounds on the initial out-of-plane oscillation are deduced such that the final oscillation will remain within the prescribed limits. These analytical results assist Coulomb tether reconfiguration maneuvers in determining when conventional thrusting must be employed to damp out-of-plane motion. Further, an improved reconfiguration strategy is analyzed where the on/off switches of the constant rate reconfiguration expansion are smoothed to reduce transient oscillations. This modification is shown to have minimal impact on the predicted out-of-plane motion.


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    Title :

    Orbit-nadir aligned coulomb tether reconfiguration analysis


    Contributors:


    Publication date :

    2008




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Print


    Language :

    English



    Classification :

    BKL:    55.60 Raumfahrttechnik
    Local classification TIB:    770/7040



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