Progress in Aerospace Sciences 44 (2008) 1–21 A review of space tether research M.P. Cartmell à , D.J. McKenzie Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Glasgow, James Watt Building, Glasgow G12 8QQ, Scotland, UK Available online 7 November 2007 Abstract The review paper attempts to provide a useful contextualised source of references for the student interested in learning about space tethers, and their potential for propulsion of payloads in Space. The two principal categories of momentum exchange and electrodynamic tethers are discussed, with the principal aim of establishing useful sources of fundamental theory in the literature, as well as highlighting important technology and mission development papers. The large-scale international effort that continues to be made in the area of space tether research is evident, with major literature contributions from the world-wide scientific and technical community. The overarching theme of the paper is to show the richness and diversity of tether modelling that has been undertaken in recent times, and to emphasise, by means of many different examples, that dynamics and control are the two fundamentally important aspects of all tether concepts, designs, and mission architectures. r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Contents 1. Introduction ................................................................................. 1 2. Momentum exchange tethers ..................................................................... 3 2.1. Summary of operating principles and relevant orbital mechanics ........................................ 3 2.2. Tether missions, constraints, and failure modes .................................................... 5 2.3. Dynamics of dumb-bell systems ............................................................... 7 2.4. Tether models in which flexural effects are introduced ............................................... 9 2.5. Control strategies and models ............................................................... 10 2.6. Practical tether designs and proposed system technologies ........................................... 13 2.7. Deployment scenarios and mission plans ........................................................ 15 3. Electrodynamic tethers ......................................................................... 16 3.1. Summary of operating principles ............................................................. 16 3.1.1. The TSS-1R mission ................................................................ 17 3.2. Practical electrodynamic tether designs and proposed system technologies ................................ 17 4. Conclusions ................................................................................ 18 Acknowledgements ........................................................................... 18 References ................................................................................. 18 1. Introduction The field of space tethers has received very considerable attention in recent decades, with many specialist articles available in the technical and scientific literature. Some of these are reviewed in this paper, and the discussion also covers some of the texts and handbooks available. We start with the excellent foundation textbook by Beletsky and Levin [1] in which the dynamics of tethers are introduced rigorously, in a progressive and pragmatic manner. The book starts by setting the scene for tethers in space by ARTICLE IN PRESS www.elsevier.com/locate/paerosci 0376-0421/$ - see front matter r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.paerosci.2007.08.002 à Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 141 330 4337; fax: +44 141 330 4343. E-mail address: m.cartmell@mech.gla.ac.uk (M.P. Cartmell).