Electrodynamic interactions

Abstract

The electrodynamic interaction of long metallic tethers with the ionosphere is introduced. Due to the tether's motion across the Earth's field, a polarization electric field is generated along the tether. In a system like the Tethered Satellite System (TSS) where the tether is coated with dielectric and the electrical contact is between its two terminations and the ionosphere, the upper end termination will collect electrons and, in a passive system, the lower end termination will collect ions. Space charge regions will develop around the two terminations of the system, which can be at considerable potential with respect to the unperturbed ionospheric plasma and the current in the tether will be most significantly determined by local processes in such space charge regions. A qualitative view of the global perturbation induced by TSS in the ionosphere is outlined. One of the applications of electrodynamic tethers is that of using them as low frequency wave generators to communicate to the Earth. This application is briefly discussed. An equivalent circuit of the tether system is described. The basic equation of the circuit is given.