THE SHUTTLE ELECTRODYNAMIC TETHER SYSTEM (SETS) ON TSS-1

The Shuttle Electrodynamic Tether System (SETS) experiment formed part of the scientific experiments comprising the first flight of the NASA /ASI Tethered-Satellite System flown at an altitude of 300 km and an o rbital inclination of 28.5 degrees in July-August 1999. The SETS exper iment was designed to study electrodynamic behavior of the Orbiter-Tet her-Satellite system as well as provide background measurements of the ionospheric environment near the Orbiter. The SETS experiment was abl e to operate continuously during the mission providing a large data se t. Details of the SETS objectives, its instrumentation, and initial re sults from the mission highlighting voltage, current, and charging mea surements are presented here.