Historical evolution of tethers in space

Abstract

The evolution of concepts of the application of tethers in space is traced from its origin in the last century to today's tethered satellite system project. Early, ambitious concept descriptions are followed by sporadic efforts in late 1960's to the 1970's until NASA entered into systematic investigations of the theoretical and practical feasibility of various applications. These efforts culminated in the establishment of the Tethered Satellite System Project presently under development at NASA and Aeritalia.