Employing a tether system for a Mars mission

Authors: Birev N.V.
Published in issue: #3(3)/2016
DOI: 10.18698/2541-8009-2016-3-22
Category: Aviation and Rocket-Space Engineering | Chapter: Aircraft Dynamics, Ballistics, Motion Control
Keywords: tether system, spacecraft, orbit, tethered platform, delta-v, linear velocity, angular velocity, elliptical orbital velocity
Published: 02.12.2016

The article deals with the possibility of employing a tether system for a Mars mission. We suggest a method of decreasing delta-v during a Mars mission by means of additional velocity increment with the help of a nearEarth tether system. We show that an optimum flight starts in a circular reference orbit or on the Earth's surface, reaches the tethered mobile platform situated upon the bottom branch of the tether system at the point where the tether linear velocity equals the elliptical orbital velocity of the spacecraft approaching the tether system, and continues with the spacecraft subsequently ascending along the tether towards the top platform, finally taking off the top platform towards Mars.

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