The flight of the Tethered Satellite System

The U.S.-Italian Tethered Satellite System (TSS) Electrodynamics Mission flew aboard ST-46; the 500-kg satellite will be extended from the Shuttle Orbiter, to which it will remain connected via conducting insulated wire tether. TSS-1 constitutes the first effort to resolve the problem postulated in the 1920s by Langmuir, involving the determination of the dynamic current-voltage characteristics of a body that is charged to high potential and located in a magnetized plasma in the absence of physical boundaries. TSS-1 is also a first step to the use of tethers for space power generation and propulsion.