NASA funds tether-launched satellite project
SEP 18, 2012
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.026349
Space.com : Tethers Unlimited was awarded $100â000 from NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts program, which encourages cutting-edge aerospace ideas. The company’s NanoTHOR project would launch CubeSats out of Earth orbit by attaching each one to the upper stage of a rocket with a tether made from high-strength fibers. Each bread-loaf-sized satellite would be launched out of Earth orbit by spinning the rocket and extending the tetherâmdash;like performing an Olympic hammer throw. The funds provided by NASA will be used to simulate the exact process needed to achieve the hammer-throw effect. Robert Hoyt, CEO and chief scientist of Tethers Unlimited, says that now the company needs to work with the rocket provider to determine how to get the rocket to spin properly.
© 2012 American Institute of Physics
