Dynamics of Tethered Satellites and Space Elevators

Arun K. Misra is the Thomas Workman Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He has made extensive research contributions in the areas of dynamics and control of tethered satellites, space debris, space robotics, space structures, and space elevators. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics as well as of the American Astronautical Society. He has been elected to the Canadian Academy of Engineering and to the International Academy of Astronautics. He has received numerous awards including the Dirk Brouwer Award from the American Astronautical Society. He is a Co-Editor of the journal Acta Astronautica published by Elsevier.Stephen Cohen obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering at McGill University. In conjunction with Prof. Misra, he authored Space Elevator – A Revolutionary Space Transportation System (Springer, 2020), the first-ever comprehensive analysis of the mechanics of space elevators, and has published numerous articles and conference papers on the topic in various journals, including Acta Astronautica. After graduating from McGill, he worked for industry designing and testing space payloads for launch and orbital environments. He became a Physics Professor at Vanier College in 2010, and began a science blog, The Engineer’s Pulse (www.engineerspulse.com) that same year. His first independently published book, Getting Physics: Nature’s Laws as a Guide to Life, was released to the market in January 2023.

• 1. IntroductionPart I: Space Tethers and Tethered Satellites2. Dynamics of Rigid Tethered Satellite Systems3. Elastic Oscillations of Space Tethers4. Control of Tethered Satellite Systems5. Tethered Multibody Systems6. Tether Propulsion7. Removal of Space DebrisPart II: Space Elevators8. Very Long Tethers9. Space Elevator Description10. Elastic Oscillations of Space Elevator11. Climber Effects on Space Elevator Tether12. Conclusions