3315 Extension Rate Control of an Electro-dynamic Tether
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Since the number of satellites in Earth orbit is steadily increasing, space debris could eventually pose a serious problem to near-Earth space activities, and therefore effective measures to mitigate it are important. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), is investigating an active space debris removal system and the applicability of electro-dynamic tether (EDT) technology as its high efficient orbital transfer system.. A small expendable EDT package is under development The status of prototypes of bare tether, a reel mechanism, a deploying mechanism and the extension rate control system are described in this paper.
