A study of debris impact collision probabilities to space tethers

The Tether Risk Assessment Program is a new model currently under development at the University of Southampton. It is designed to study the short-term interaction between space tethers and a debris cloud produced by an on-orbit fragmentation event. An impact risk analysis is performed over a 15-days period after a breakup event has occurred using two examples. The first example looks at a single stranded tether similar to that of the Tether Physics and Survivability Experiment. The second example is similar to that of the first but with a double stranded tether. The risk analysis for the chosen examples is presented, along with the current status of the program. (C) 2004 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.