Tether length control in tether-assisted deorbiting mission from an elliptical orbit

Among proposed applications of tethers in space, tether-assisted payload deorbiting projects are closest to the wide practical implementation. Three experiments were carried out successfully to date. The idea is to avoid the use of jet engines to generate a brake pulse, which transfers the payload on the descent orbit. The necessary reduction in velocity can be obtained through the use of features of the orbital motion of the space tether systems. Development of effective tether control methods are of great scientific and technological interest. The majority of research concerns the descent of a payload from a circular orbit. The aim of this research is development of an effective method of the tether control in tether-assisted payload deorbiting mission in the case of elliptical orbit of small eccentricity.