Moon & Mars Orbiting Spinning Tether Transport - Tethers Unlimited

Potential Reeling FunctionsReeling out at high speed during rendezvous/capture phase, then reeling back in more slowlyÒPumpingÓ the tether to modify the orbit after reboost (increase eccentricity and turn excessperigee altitude into more apogee altitude)After Facility deployment, use reeling to spin up Facility and enter operational stageReeling to allow long time storage of tether/grapple and Facility repair/servicingAt current design stage, more concerned with reeling in/pumping impacts on tetherdeployment and control system on Control Station designExpect Winch to have to overcome high forces to begin reeling tether once itÕs fullydeployed, resulting in high electrical power requirements similar to those of theelectrodynamic tether reboost power requirementsExpect tether dynamics induced by pumping to be harder to damp/control than thosethat exist when deploying tether slowly or reeling in slowly14