Stability of a tethered satellite system

Abstract

am(S,ao.d6) a($,,) as a function of wing area, wing inclination and boom length The Tethers in Space program will provide an important new c The aerodynamic damping derivative = -2 facility for conducting experiments in regions remote from the (A rough approximation only; this was developed Space Shuttle Orbiter. One such future mission is to lower a for the TSSICone Frustrurn in a continuum flow) satellite via a connecting tether from the Space Shuttle cargo cd diff kag coefficient base. of diffuse moldar deflection bay into the Earth's upper atmosphere to an altitude of Cd, Cd exact Drag coefficient approximately 11 5 km. The focus of this mission is to: C1 diff Lift coefficient based of diffuse molecular deflection 0 Demonstrate and validate deployment and retrieval operations of a Tethered System. 0 Conduct hypersonic aerothermodynamic research. 0 Validate Tethered Satellite System, or TSS, operations in the Earth's upper atmosphere. For the tethered satellite to accurately record data the main sensing probe must be pointed in the direction of the velocity vector with no more than a f2O deviation. A major complication is that the TSS will encounter unstable flight due to the effects of the upper atmosphere. One possible orientation control strategy would be to incorporate a passive flat plate wing system connected to the TSS via a boom. In this paper we present an analysis of the TSSIWing System in planar motion subject to impulse forces. The analysis indicates that the wing system could provide stable flight, and that the peak overshoot of the TSS should fall within the range of