Momentum-Exchange/Electrodynamic-Reboost Tether Facility for Deployment of Microsatellites to GEO and the Moon

摘要

The LEO => GTO Tether Boost Facility will combine momentum-exchange tether techniques with electro-dynamic tether propulsion to provide a reusable infrastructure capable of repeatedly boosting payloads from low Earth orbit to geostationary transfer orbit without requiring propellant expenditure. Designs for the orbital mechanics and system sizing of a tether facility capable of boosting 2,500 kg payloads from LEO to GTO once every 30 days are presented. The entire tether facility is sized to enable an operational capability to be deployed with a single Delta-IV-H launch. The system is designed in a modular fashion so that its capacity can be increased with additional launches. The tether facility can also boost 1000 kg payloads to lunar transfer orbits, and will serve as the first building block of an Earth-Moon-Mars Tether Transportation Architecture. The tether facility will utilize electrodynamic tether propulsion to restore its orbit after each payload boost operation. Using numerical modeling of tether dynamics, orbital mechanics, electrodynamics, and other relevant physics, we validate the orbital design of the system and investigate methods for performing electrodynamic reboost of the station.