Electric Sail Deployment Mechanism

Our objective is to develop system (TDS) for electric sail propulsion systems. The proposed work for this one year effort includes four major tasks. Task 1: Concept Design. We will design a tether deployment System that is scalable, compact, lightweight, power efficient, reilable, and tolerant to high radiation and vibration environments. Taske 2: Dynamic Modeling. We will develop a dynamic model for simulationg tether deployment. Task 3: Protype Fabrication. A full-scale multi-tether TDS prototype will be fabricated at UK. Task 4: Experimental Verification. Relevant-environment experiments will be conducted to verify performance and reliability of the TDS prototype.