Laws of deployment/retrieval in tether connected satellites systems

In this work, a general analytical approach for the dynamical behavior of t he tether connected satellites system during deployment and retrieval proce sses is used. The system consists of a Space Station connected to a subsate llite by means of a straight tether of variable length. A simplified model in which the Space Station and the subsatellite are reduced to material poi nts and the system mass center is moving along an elliptical (or circular) orbit is considered. In a first part, tether's mass is neglected; some part icular laws of deployment retrieval leading to analytical solutions for the small in plane and out of plane motions of the system are obtained. Then t hese results are extended to massive tether. Another application of the met hod is the so-called "crawler system" in which the subsatellite "crawls" to wards the Space Station along a tether of fixed length previously deployed. Comparison of the system behavior in conventional and crawler method shows the good performance of the last method. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. Al l rights reserved.