Prospective lunar, planetary and deep space applications of tethers

Projected flights of an internationally managed Tethered Satellite System from the Space Shuttle in the early 1990s will investigate the behavior, first, of an insulated conducting wire 20 km long as it travels at orbital speeds through the ionosphere and earth magnetic field; subsequently, a nonconducting tether will be used to lower an instrumented 'subsatellite' 100 km downward to investigate upper-atmosphere conditions. Further consideration is presently given to other scientific, electrodynamic, transportational, and artificial gravity-generating applications of the tether concept.