RESULTS OF THE PARABOLIC FLIGHT TESTS OF THE RAPUNZEL DEPLOYER

The tether assisted re-entry of small payloads is a highly interesting tool for space transportation especially for the return of small payl oads from Space Station ISSA. The small tether mission Rapunzel was in itiated in 1991 by the Institute of Astronautics, TU Munchen and the K ayser-Threde Company, to design a low cost and feasible tether experim ent for the verification of the tether assisted re-entry. Together wit h the Samara State Aerospace University, Russia, a mission concept on a Russian Resurs or Photon capsule was developed. Based on this missio n a deployer has been designed, mainly based on technology of the text ile industry, which insures high reliability at low cost. Recently a s imilar configuration is being discussed for the ESA-TSE mission. The m ain work during the recent time was the development and test of the br eadboard model of the deployer system. After successfully completing i nitial ground tests with the deployer, further tests during the ESA Pa rabolic Flight campaign in November 1995 were conducted. After a short introduction of the overall mission scenario, the planned configurati on in orbit, this paper will present the results of the microgravity t est campaign onboard the KC-135 aircraft and compare them with the gro und test. The deployer showed a good performance during all tests, inc luding ejection of the end-mass, deployment, and braking. Problems tha t occurred during the tests will be discussed, and solutions for the d etected flaws and the results of the redesign now in progress will be presented. These verifications have shown the feasibility of the conce pt and will lay the base for the planned development of the Eight mode l of the deployer. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.