Moon & Mars Orbiting Spinning Tether Transport - Tethers Unlimited

Appendix L: Tether Boost Facility Design Final Report3.6.4 Trades and RecommendationsThe usual parametric trades conducted at subsystem design levels were notconducted for the configuration trades, except for reel sizing which drove the tetherbay size. The final Phase II configuration resulted from iterating the configurationfrom phase I and seeing if each iteration met the criteria shown in Table 3-3. Figure3-11 shows the first configuration that resulted after the first few subsystem sizingiterations (the “guppy” configuration). This first configuration did not place deployablePV arrays, radiators, and FEACs in a manner that met Configuration Guidelines #5(array shading). Configurations 2 and 3, which generally follow the ConfigurationGuidelines, were drafted and are shown in Figure 3-12 and Figure 3-13, respectfully.The main concern with configuration 2 is the occasional array shading. ThoughConfiguration 3 has no array shading, rotating such a large collection of panels maynot prove to be advantageous over Configuration 2. Rotating the panel collectionswill require motors and stiff structural supports. Array gimbaling component lifetimes,reliability, power requirements, and extra mass are the parameters which need to bedefined. Mass properties reported above do not reflect Configuration 3. A closerview of Configuration 2 with component labels is in Section 4.0.Table 3-3. Configuration Guidelines1. Tether reel realistically sized, not prohibiting single launch of operational system2. Reel Bay sized to accommodate Tether reel3. Reel and Equipment Bays provide ample mounting surfaces forantennae/sensors/bracketry4. PV array panels deploy and placement does not prohibit future Station sectionsfrom being added5. PV arrays able to be sun-pointing for a considerable part of an orbit6. Radiators are body-mounted to Reel Bay and are deployable7. Radiators and FEACs face away from PV arrays8. Radiators and FEAC placement do not prohibit future Station sections frombeing added9. Tether should not wrap itself around Control StationL-70