TED Project: Conjugating Technology Development and Educational Activities

Abstract

TED (Tethered Electromagnetic Docking) is a system proposed by a group of researchers and students of the University of Padova for close rendezvous and docking between spacecraft. It consists in a small tethered probe ejected by the chaser, reaching the proximity of the target with a controlled deployment, and then magnetically guided by a receiving electromagnet mounted on it. Because of the generated magnetic field, alignment and mating are possible; then, as the tether is rewound, the chaser is able to dock with the target. To perform a preliminary verification of TED, three groups of students have been involved in the project and contributed to the evaluation of its critical technologies in reduced gravity: in the framework of ESA “Drop your Thesis!” 2014 and 2016 campaigns the experiments FELDs and STAR focused on the test of the tether deployment and control, while PACMAN, in the framework of ESA “Fly Your Thesis! 2017” parabolic flights campaign, tested proximity operations by means of electromagnetic interactions. In this paper, a description of TED concept and its development roadmap is presented, introducing the critical technologies tested by FELDs, STAR, and PACMAN experiments. The second part of the paper focuses on the educational outcomes of the three experiments, introducing statistics on (1) student participation, (2) scientific publication production, and (3) influence of the educational programs on the students’ career.

Test of Tethered Deorbiting of Space Debris

“…The deployer shall therefore be able to follow the predefined deployment profiles by providing the requested initial momentum and by controlling the tape reel-out by passive or active control systems. Mechanical (springs [8,44,45]), electro-mechanical (deployed masts [46]) or propulsive (cold gas actuators [38,47]) systems have been proposed to provide the initial momentum, with the latter one selected for ETPACK. With regards to deployment mechanisms, they can be classified in three main categories: stationary spools, rotating reels, and folded "origami", depending on the tether stowing strategy; again, for this work a rotating reel configuration was selected.…”

“…Since the introduction of the space tether concept [1], a wide number of applications from orbital momentum exchange devices to electrodynamic systems have been proposed; a complete review can be found in [2][3][4][5]. More recently, ground tests and numerical models focused on innovative uses of space tethers, among them formation flight [6,7], rendezvous and docking maneuvers [8], space tugging operations [9], and asteroids [10,11] and non-cooperative objects [12] capture.…”

A Tether System at the L1, L2 Collinear Libration Points of the Mars–Phobos System: Analytical Solutions

“…The space tether systems allow us to perform missions that are impossible, impractical or unprofitable to accomplish with the help of other space equipment. For example, tether systems can be used for docking between spacecraft [1], as a space elevator [2][3][4][5][6], for payload orbital transfer [7,8], for exploring deep space [9], the atmosphere and the surface of the planets and their moons [10], as well as asteroids. For instance, Mashayekhi and Misra studied the effect of attaching a tether and ballast mass to an asteroid with subsequent cutting of the tether [11].…”

Micro Satellite Orbital Boost by Electrodynamic Tethers

“…The method will be evaluated for microsatellites. Electromagnetic tethers were recently proposed for spacecraft docking [ 22 ], and many other examples were just articulated in the review by O’Reilly et al, 2021 [ 23 ], which was already demonstrated by NASA to produce translational propulsion forces [ 24 ]. This manuscript will instead evaluate the resultant translational effects of coupled motion due to externally applied forces and torques through tethers.…”