Dynamics of tethered payloads with deployment rate control

Introduction D of deployment of a tethered payload from an orbiting spacecraft has been studied by both lumped mass and continuum models." Although both models have advantages and disadvantages, the lumped-mass model is believed to be more general in that it describes small curvature and large elastic displacement of the tether. On the issue of control, both tether tension control and tether deployment rate control' have been proposed, though deployment rate control is definitely easier to mechanize. A theory for deployment rate control with a lumped-mass model of the tether has not been published in the literature, to the best of the author's knowledge. The present Note seeks to fill this void.