Космический эксперимент NASA с электромагнитным тросом потерпел неудачу из-за микроскопического дефекта изоляции

Listen to this article in summarized format A kite string made of physics This experiment was called TSS-1R, reflight of the Tethered Satellite System, a joint project of NASA and the Italian space agency. The concept itself was so brilliant that it is difficult not to appreciate its simplicity: all one needs to do is drag a conductive wire through the Earth's magnetic field at sufficient velocity in order to create electricity. The resulting electrical circuit interacted with the surrounding ionosphere rather than drawing energy directly from the atmosphere. The TSS-1R satellite mid-deployment on its boom during STS-75. Image credits: Wikimedia Commons Then the wire just let go According to NASA and ASI, a small flaw in the insulation of the tether allowed an electrical arc to build up against the spacecraft itself, which wore down the Kevlar core of the cable until it was no longer able to bear the strain. The tether tore off, and 19.7 kilometers of cable along with a working satellite were lost to space forever. The satellite separated from Columbia and moved away into its own orbit, while the crew remained in no immediate danger. NASA considered going after the lost payload but quickly realized that chasing after a 12-mile-long wire in orbit around a manned spacecraft wasn't worth the risk. The tether was a 2.54 millimeters thin line constructed from braided copper wire wrapped around a Nomex core, insulated with Teflon and covered in Kevlar. Failure analysis pointed to the very core of the tether, a material prone to trapping air bubbles under normal pressure when manufactured. According to the vacuum tests later carried out, unspooling the reel allowed pinholes in the insulating layer to be exposed, and as air was released through the pinholes, the 3,500-volt electric charge on the tether transformed it into a plasma. It was the mission designed to release 20.7 kilometers of the cable; thus, the tether failed just one kilometer short of the expected distance. Dramatic "after" shot showing the empty TSS-1R boom once the tether snapped. Image credits: Wikimedia Commons Why a 30-year-old snapped wire still matters The real engineering story behind the project is much more exciting than any of that, and serves as an excellent example of how any space agency, despite having billions of dollars at its disposal and years of experience, can be brought down to its knees by a microscopic imperfection in the construction process. And then there's the matter of the technology itself: electrodynamic tethers haven't been forgotten and abandoned after the dramatic failure of the TSS-1R experiment, because they are still considered by many as a possible solution for generating energy without any consumable fuel sources. And it's actually a really useful technology now, when low Earth orbit becomes increasingly crowded with commercial satellites and their waste. The experiment also proved that there were interactions between the electrodynamic tether and the ionosphere, which had not been accounted for in previous models. It was discovered that the amount of current collected by the tether was significantly higher than predicted by Parker-Murphy theory, and there were energetic electrons in addition to other plasma behavior which was unanticipated. Therefore, the tether was not just an experiment in electricity production; rather, it was an unusually long electrical probe into the Earth’s atmosphere. As noted by NASA, the TSS-1R observations offered new information about current collection and high voltage plasma sheath phenomena, demonstrating that the dynamics of a tether orbiting in a plasma environment should be taken into account in the electrodynamic simulations. (Catch all the US News, UK News, Canada News, International Breaking News Events, and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.) Download The Economic Times News App to get Daily International News Updates. (Catch all the US News, UK News, Canada News, International Breaking News Events, and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.) Download The Economic Times News App to get Daily International News Updates.