Wave-absorbing control of transverse vibration of tether system

Wave absorbing control is studied for application to vibration suppression on transverse vibration of flexible tethers of space tether systems. The flexibility of the tether is taken into consideration for the analysis and the transverse motion is described by a partial differential equation for a model with tension gradients along the tether. Wave-absorbing control is employed to suppress the transverse vibration of the tether by using an actuator on the mother satellite. The results of numerical analysis show the traveling wave response on the transverse motions of the tether, and satisfactory performance of the controller is proven in sup-pressing the transverse vibration of the tether system.