1.

6 A space application for strings: the TSS

47

1.6 A space application for strings: the TSS

The TSS is an acronim that stands for Tethered Satellite System. Tethered
satellite systems (see Figure 1.17) consist of two or more satellites connected
by thin and long cables in orbit (a length of 100 km is not unusual). The original concept was proposed in the 1960s by two Italian professors, Giuseppe
Colombo and Mario Grossi; for an introduction to this subject, see Beletsky
and Levin (1993), Handbook (1986), Handbook (1988), Proceedings (1995).
After a period of basic research, several successful (SEDS project) and not
completely successful (TSS1 project) flights in orbit around the Earth were
performed by NASA during the last decade of the 20th century; see Proceedings (1995) for a detailed description of these two projects. There exists a
broad spectrum of practically important applications of TSSs ranging from
energy production, making use of the magnetic field of the Earth, to orbit
raising or deorbiting of satellites by cutting the tether (Beletsky and Levin,
1993) in the stable radial relative equilibrium position. This relative equilibrium is attained if a system of two satellites connected by a tether with
constant length moves on a circular orbit, provided the length of the tether
is not very long, that is, if it is not of the order of the radius of the orbit
(Beletsky and Levin, 1993).

b2

e2

m2
r2

m1
r0(s,t)
r1

b1

r(s,t)

e1

Fig. 1.17 Tethered satellite system with the coordinates.

48

1 The Elastic Cable: from Formulation to Computation

c Walter Lacarbonara

Here we show the simple configuration of a TSS represented by mass m1

(i.e, mass of the mother satellite) and mass m2 (i.e., mass of the subsatellite) connected by a string whose mass density be denoted A, the crosssectional area be A, the axial stiffness be EA. We consider an inertial frame
(O, e1 , e2 , e3 ) with the origin fixed in the center of mass of the earth. We
let s be the arclength along the unstretched string of original length L and
r o (s, t) be the position vector of a material string particle at s and at time
t. We assume that the mother satellite is moving on a circular LEO orbit8
described by r1 = r1 b1 where r1 is known.
The stretch in the string is calculated as ros = a where a = r os /|ros | is
the unit tangent vector to the cable actual configuration, hence the stretch
is = |ros |. The tension force in the string is n = N a where the constitutive
(, )
law for N , by assuming a linearly viscoelastic material, N (s, t) = N
=
EA( 1) + EAD .
The gravitational force acting on the string per unit
reference length is
Aro /|r o |3
where = 398600.4418 km3 /s2 is the geocentric gravitational constant.
The equation of motion reads
ns A

ro
+ f = Ar ott
|ro |3

(1.6.1)

where f denotes the vector of other forces acting on the string per unit
reference length. The boundary conditions
ro (s1 , t)
= mo1 r ott (s1 , t),
|ro (s1 , t)|3
ro (s2 , t)
= mo2 r ott (s2 , t).
n(s2 , t) mo2 o
|r (s2 , t)|3
n(s1 , t) mo1

(1.6.2)
(1.6.3)

where s1 is the arclength of the string section exiting the mother satellite
and s2 is the arclength of the string section attached to the subsatellite. The
initial conditions are

Low Earth orbit (LEO) is generally defined as an orbit within the locus extending from the
Earths surface up to an altitude of 2000 km. Given the rapid orbital decay of objects below
approximately 200 km, the commonly accepted definition for LEO is between 160 2000
km. The International Space Station is in an LEO that varies from 319.6 km to 346.9 km
above the Earths surface.

1.6 A space application for strings: the TSS

r(s, 0) = r(s),

49

(s),
r t (s, 0) = v

r(s1 ) = ro

where ro is the initial orbital altitude of the mother satellite.

When the whole tether is deployed, s1 = 0 and s2 = L. The acceleration
of mass mo1 turns out to be rtt (s1 , t) = r1 2 b1 (r1 is the orbital altitude of
the mother satellite) which is a purely centripetal acceleration9.
We compute the angular velocity of the mother satellite before deployment
according to

m 2 = m 2 ro 2 = 3
ro
ro
where m := mo1 + mo2 + AL is the total mass comprising the masses of the
two satellites and the mass of the undeployed string.
We assume that the orbital altitude of the mother satellite does not change
before and after deployment, thus r1 (t) = ro . Hence, the angular velocity
does not change. In this case, the mechanical boundary condition (1.6.2) is
replaced by the kinematic boundary condition
r(s1 , t) = ro b1 .

(1.6.4)

To solve the dynamic problem, it is convenient to introduce a coordinate

transformation as shown in Fig. (1.17),
r o (s, t) = r 1 (t) + r(s, t),

r1 = r1 b1

(1.6.5)

where r(s, t) := ro (s, t) r 1 (t) is the position vector of a material point of

the tether with respect to the mother satellite.
Substituting (1.6.5) into equation of motion (1.6.1) yields
s [EA( 1)a] + s [EAD t a] A

r1 b1 + r
+ Ar1 2 b1 = Ar tt (1.6.6)
|r1 b1 + r|3

while the mechanical boundary condition (1.6.3) becomes

[EA( 1) + EAD t ]a mo2

r1 b1 + r
+ mo2 r1 2 b1 = mo2 r tt ,
|r1 b1 + r|3

at s = s2
(1.6.7)

9 To obtain the acceleration of the mother satellite, we consider that on a Keplerian circular
orbit, r1 = r1 b1 with b1 = cos e1 + sin e2 . Hence, differentiating twice with respect to

t yields r1,tt = r1 2 b1 where we let := .

50

1 The Elastic Cable: from Formulation to Computation

c Walter Lacarbonara

The other boundary condition is kinematic and reads r(s1 , t) = o.

It is straightforward to show that the radial configuration of the tether and
the masses aligned with the the vector that goes from the center of the earth
to the mother satellite is an equilibrium configuration. To this end, we assume
the radial solution for the string r(s) = r(s)b1 and substitute into (1.6.6)
and (1.6.7). The unit tangent vector to the straight radial configuration of the
tether is a = b1 and the stretch is = rs while the stretch rate vanishes.
The acceleration of the string becomes r tt = r 2 b1 accounting for the fact
1 = 2 b1 . Equation (1.6.6) becomes
that b
EArss +

A
A 2 (ro r) = 0
(ro r)2

(1.6.8)

The boundary conditions are r(0) = 0 and

EA(rs 1)

mo2
+ mo2 (ro r) 2 = 0,
(ro r)2

at s = L

(1.6.9)

where 2 = /ro3 .
Example 1.8. The masses of the TSS are m1 = 50 103 kg, m2 = 103 kg. The
orbital altitude is r1 = 300 km. The string material properties, assuming that
it is made of Kevlar, are: A = 0.7 kg/km, EA = 104 N. The fully deployed
tether has a length L = 20 km.
Equation (1.6.8) with boundary conditions (1.6.9) can be solved with any
discretization scheme. We assume the Earths equatorial radius of 6378 km so
that ro = (300 + 6378) km=6408 km. In the radial equilibrium configuration
(see Fig. (1.18)), the tether final length is L = 20184.0m, hence the length
has increased by 184.9 m, that is, slightly less than 1%. The tension at the
attachment point with the mother satellite is N = 92.665 N while at the
other end the tension decreases to N = 92.022 N.
Exercise 1.9. Compute the motion of the tether of example (1.8), solving
equation of motion (1.6.6) and boundary conditions (1.6.7). Let r(s, t) =
r1 (s, t)b1 (t) + r2 (s, t)b2 (t) with b1 = cos e1 + sin e2 and b1 = sin e1 +
cos e2 . The initial conditions are r(s) = r(s)b1 where r(s) is the radial
(s) = (s L)b1 . In other words,
equilibrium of the previous problem and v
we seek the motion that is excited by an impulse given at the subsatellite in
the radial direction. The data are those of example (1.8) with the addition
of the viscosity-to-elasticity moduli ratio, EAD /EA = 103 .

1.6 A space application for strings: the TSS

51

(a)
0

m1
(b)

93.0

N [N]
92.5

6
[km]
8

92.0

10
91.5

12

m2

14
14

12

10

[km]

91.0
0

10

s [km]

15

Fig. 1.18 (a) radial equilibrium configuration of the TSS and (b) variation of the tension
in the tether with the arclength s [0, 20] km. T

Exercise 1.10. A TSS comprises two masses, m1 = 15 103 kg, m2 = 4.8

103 kg. The orbital altitude is r1 = 200 km. The tether is made of Zylon
whose Youngs modulus is E = 280GPa, the diameter is d = 1mm, and the
mass per unit length is A = 1.56g/cm3. Determine the stretched length of
the fully deployed tether.

20