Space Tether Based Propellant-Free Payload Transport in the Restricted Mars-Phobos Three-Body System
摘要
Space tethered system has various potential applications and one of the interesting missions is for space transportation. Although some novel conceptual design and dynamic analysis have been addressed, payload transportation tapping environmental energy without consuming artificial energy in the three-body problem deserves studying. In the paper, the propellantless payload ascending from Phobos surface to outer space will be implemented using a rigid slender tethered system in the framework of circular Mars-Phobos restricted three-body system (CMPRTBS). Two configurations for payload lifting will be addressed. The first one will focus on the payload ascending system merely experiencing axial rigid motion. The second one will address the payload lifting system experiencing both axial motion and in-plane libration. The dynamic models of the Phobos payload-ascending tethered system were established respectively for the two configurations. The shortest length that can realize propellantless payload ascending was obtained. Then, dynamic analyses were conducted on the two models, and the lift length, velocity and stress distribution during the ascent of the propellant load were obtained. In order to enable the continuous siphon operation to be stably implemented in both configurations, we have formulated cutting strategies for them. For the one-dimensional payload ascending system, we have proposed three schemes: fixed-length cutting, fixed-time cutting and fixed-position cutting. For the in-plane libration payload ascending system, we have adopted fixed-length cutting.