Modeling and Analysis of Deployment Dynamics of a Low-orbital Tethered System

The paper analyzes the deployment dynamics of a low-orbital tethered system. The low-orbital tethered system consists of a spacecraft and an atmospheric sounder that are connected by a tether. The tether is deployed from the spacecraft by means of a mechanism that works only for braking. A dynamic deployment control law is designed taking into account the aerodynamic forces acting on the spacecraft, atmospheric sounder and inextensible tether. The stability of the final equilibrium position of the low-orbital tethered system is studied. The numerical simulations show that there exist boundary values for the parameters of the control law, which depend on the parameters of the tethered system. If the parameters of the control law are at the interval made up by the boundary values, the final position of the system will be asymptotically stable and the restrictions on the deployment rate and tensional force will be satisfied.