Early Results of the Multi-Application Survivable Tether (MAST) Space Tether Experiment

The Multi-Application Survivable Tether (MAST) Experiment utilizes three tethered picosatellites to study the survivability of space tether structures and materials in the low Earth orbit environment. The MAST picosatellites initially deployed as a single body from a CubeSat PPOD deployer were designed to subsequently deploy a 1,000 meter long multi-line Hoytether between two of the picosatellites. The third picosatellite will then slowly crawl up and down the tether photographing it and transmitting the pictures to a ground station. Analysis of these photographs will provide data on how the micrometeoroid and orbital debris environment damage the tether structure. Additionally, each of the three picosatellites incorporates a GPS receiver whose measurements will provide data on the deployment and dynamics of the tethered formation of picosatellites. In this paper, we will summarize the final design and initial flight experiment results of the Multi-Application Survivable Tether (MAST) experiment, which was launched on 17 April 2007 on a Dnepr rocket as coordinated by the California Polytechnic University