Practicality of using a Tether for electrodynamic reboost of the International Space Station

Details Practicality of using a Tether for electrodynamic reboost of the International Space Station Practicality of using a Tether for electrodynamic reboost of the International Space Station

Feb 2001

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001aipc..552..445b&link_type=abstract

Space Technology and Applications International Forum - 2001. AIP Conference Proceedings, Volume 552, pp. 445-451 (2001).

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Spaceborne And Space Research Instruments, Apparatus, And Components, Artificial Earth Satellites, Observatories And Site Testing, Electric And Magnetic Fields, Solar Magnetism

Scientific paper

ElectroDynamic (ED) Tethers can generate continuous low thrust in a low Earth orbit. An induced current running through the length of the tether reacts with the geomagnetic field to produce thrust. The amount of thrust scales with tether length and current. The International Space Station (ISS) requires periodic reboost to maintain an approximately circular orbit above the Earth. The baseline reboost method is a traditional bi-propellant rocket thruster and tankage system which must to be refueled via Soyuz/Progress or other launch vehicle. The estimated propellant costs associated with keeping ISS in the designated orbit over a 10-year life have been extremely high. The ED Tether would draw energy from the renewable ISS Solar Array electrical power system. Propulsion requirements for ISS vary depending on solar wind and other conditions. It is projected that a ED Tether could provide the majority of the required reboost thrust for ISS for a nominal solar year. For above nominal solar wind years the ISS would have to use the rocket reboost system, but at a greatly reduced level. Thus resulting in substantial cost savings, via the reduction in the number of Earth-to-orbit launch vehicle flights to the ISS that must bring reboost propellant. However, the purposes of this paper is to further previous research on an ISS ED Tether and examine the operational and technical issues working against using a ED Tether on ISS. Issues such as Shuttle rendezvous and flight path concerns raise serious safety concerns and restrictions on tether use. Tether issues such as tether librations and off angle thrust raise concerns about impacts to microgravity payloads and the long-term effect on ISS orbital path and inclination. Operational issues such as peak power available to an ED Tether and allowable duty cycle may impose severe restrictions on tether design and ultimately limit the practicality of an ED Tether on ISS. Thus while at first glance the cost numbers appear to be strongly in favor of an ED Tether the limitations imposed by safety, operations and technical concerns may severely undermine the economic model. Possible solutions to these problems have been investigated and proposed, however some items like off angle thrust are still being actively investigated for an adequate solution. .

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