Impact effects from space debris on a tethered satellite system

The optimal retrieval control for a three-dimensional tethered satellite system subject to different level of impacts from space debris was presented here. Tether elasticity and complex constraints were taken into consideration in the controller design firstly, which featured full exploitation of a second-order differential inclusion concept and a Legendre pseudo-spectral algorithm. The optimal tension and state profiles were solved with respect to the initial impact velocities. The various effects of impacts from space debris on the tethered satellite system were analyzed.