Nebula Public Library

The knowledge bank of ESA’s R&D programmes

BOdies UNder Connected Elastic Dynamics (BOUNCED)

Programme
Discovery
Programme Reference
13-090
Start Date
End Date
Country
UK
Description

The BOUNCED project has assessed the behaviour of elastic tethers within flexible link Active Debris Removal (ADR) systems. This has been achieved by solving a multidimensional set of linear equations, through the separation of dynamic modes; and the construction of analytic and numeric models of the resulting system. These models can be used to simulate the behaviour of both single and multi material tethers across the full lifetime of a tether mission, from pretension, through re-entry burn and free body motion post burn, to re-entry.

Executive summary