Deployment Behavior of Long Tethers in Space with Application to Space Elevator Design
- Paper number
IAC-07-C1.2.02
- Author
Prof. Andre Mazzoleni, North Carolina State University, United States
- Year
2007
- Abstract
The Space Elevator is a highly futuristic idea of connecting Earth to Space with a 100,000 km long tether, where the tether is balanced at GEO. While the potential uses of a Space Elevator are manifold, deployment of such a long tether is one of the many important challenges facing construction of a space elevator. As per the present design, the tether would be deployed upwards and downwards from GEO with counterweights on either end. Long tethers can be unstable during deployment, and hence understanding the dynamics of deploying long tethers is crucial. For this purpose, a deployment model is developed and analyzed. A parametric study is conducted as a function of the mass distribution of the counter weights and the separation velocity. Analysis is conducted on both controlled and uncontrolled deployment (i.e. using only the gravity gradient for deployment). Behaviors such as librations of the tether, drifting from the original orbit, and eventual escape of the system are analyzed as functions of the system parameters, and it is shown that maintaining the system stability during deployment is very challenging. Many papers have been written outlining the basic idea and potential applications of the space elevator, but there have not been many studies of the deployment dynamics of a space elevator. This study represents an important step in filling this gap, in that it illustrates some of the challenges associated with deploying a space elevator, and suggests possible solutions to the problems inherent in the current space elevator deployment plans. It is hoped that this study will prove to be a useful guide to scientists, engineers and program managers who are contemplating various space elevator designs.
- Abstract document