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Measurement of the magnetic field and the shape effects on the plasma collection by a positive biased tether

This paper is available in a repository.
This paper is available in a repository.

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Preprint: policy unknown
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Postprint: policy unknown
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Abstract

BETs is a three-year Project financed by the Space Program of the European Commission, aimed at developing an efficient deorbit system that could be carried on board any future satellite launched into Low Earth Orbit. The previous measurements and simulations have permitted to show the effect of the orbital velocity on the current collection law. In this paper, new experiments of current collection by a tether are proposed in order to assess the effects of the magnetic field and considering a tape shape instead of a wire. The experiments show that the currents measured never exceed current density predicted by the OML theory. But, it has been shown that, in some case, to use the OML theory leads to a significant overestimation of the current collected. Thermal issues due to the current collection have been observed and quantified. A detailed estimation of the deviation measured in experiments will provide the margins to take in the system integration of the tether.