A targeting strategy for the deployment of a tethered satellite system

One of the most important operations during a tethered satellite system mission is the deployment of a subsatellite from a spaceship. We restrict to the simple, but practically important case that the system is moving on a circular Keplerian orbit around the Earth. The main problem during deployment due to the local gravity gradient vector is that due to the Coriolis acceleration the two satellites do not move along the straight radial relative equilibrium position in the orbital frame. Instead, a strong deviation from the local vertical direction occurs, which after the deployment process is finished results in weakly damped large-amplitude oscillations, which in some cases are even transient chaotic. This chaotic dynamics will be used to steer the satellite with small control actions into the final radial relative equilibrium position far away from the spaceship. Both deployment time and energy input are computed and compared to other deployment strategies.