High-Speed Observation for Deployment of Super-Tether in Inverse-Origami Method

Super tape is a bare electrodynamic tape tether which has superior properties than thin round cross-section tether in anti-debris feature and high electron collection characteristics. The super tether is thus expected to play important roles in space debris mitigation and space structures construction. Such mechanism as reel has difficulty for the deployment of the tape tether in comparison with thin tether, which is able to be wound in bobbins. New mechanism, inverse-origami method, is employed for the deployment and had successful 132.6m deployment on a sounding rocket experiment, T-Rex, in 2010 for the first in the world. A wide variety of examinations of one dozen are employed for preflight analysis in order to assure the reliability of the deployment. Based on the flight demonstration post flight analyses are also still in process including some reconfirmations of preflight analysis and such additional analysis as high-speed observation of deployment. Many plans are in progress in JAXA, ESA and NASA since the super tether can be an important element. This paper is to report a variety of experimental results of the folded tape deployment in the inverse-Origami method. スーパー・テザーの逆オリガミ法による伸展特性の高速度解析について 藤井裕矩 (TMI 研究開発部), 杉本洋平(JAXA), 小島広久(首都大), 渡部武夫(帝京大)、草谷大郎(都立産技高専)