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A. Steindl:
"Time-optimal control of the deployment of a tethered satellite";
Talk: Eulog 2016, Wien; 2016-09-14 - 2016-09-16.

Tethered satellites are a promising technology for space missions: A
satellite is connected to a space station on a Keplerian orbit by a
long and light-weight
cable (tether). A demanding task during the mission is the deployment
of the satellite from the
main station to a distant position; also the retrieval of the
satellite back to the main station has to be carried out very
carefully, otherwise expensive damage could occur.

Since the tether is usually much lighter than the satellite,
the weight of the tether is commonly neglected and the tether is assumed to be
straight. In this talk we address the time-optimal deloyment for a
simply discretized tether configuration with a small mass and in-plane
transversal oscillations by a tension force at the tether outlet.

Tethered Satellite, Optimal Control, Deployment