Validating the Deployment of a Novel Tether Design for Net-Based Orbital Debris Removal Missions

With the global push to commercialize space, humans are launching objects into orbit faster than natural effects are removing them. Orbital debris is especially dangerous as it is capable of exponential growth due to cascading collisions between orbiting objects. To ensure the long-term accessibility to space, high-risk objects must be actively removed to limit growth of the orbital debris population. One method of active debris removal is with a tethered-net to capture and tow an object out of orbit. This thesis continues the validation of a proposed novel tether configuration by focusing on its deployment dynamics. Tether elements are simulated using two numerical models, a lumped mass node system connected by massless spring-damper elements, and an absolute nodal coordinate formulation model. Their accuracy to predict the deployment motion of a tether is experimentally determined, and a complete capture scenario using the novel tether design is presented for the fist time.